ROBERT  ERNEST  COWAN 


PHILADELPHIA 

UPflNClTT 

C^AMBOJiQO, 

ISv  JfeJL    ,fcxi25». 


THE  HUNTER-NATURALIST. 


OR, 


WILD   SCENES  AND  WILD  HUNTERS, 


BY    C.    W.    W  E  B  B  E  K, 

ACTHOB  Of 

•SHOT  cc  THE  EYE,"  "OLD  HICKS  THE  outDE,"  "CHAXIES  TOrrERrnoD  PAPERS," 
"GOLD  MLXES  or  THE  QUA,"  ETC.  ETC. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
J     B.   LIPPINCOTT    &    CO. 

1859. 


ENTERED  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1852,  by 

LIPPINC01T.  QRAMBO  4  CO. 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  tvur t  of  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


INTRODUCTION.    t 

THE  first  volume  of  the  HUNTER-NATURALIST  is  merely 
introductory  to  what  I  propose  to  make,  in  every  sense,  a 
u  progressive"  series  of  seven  volumes. 

My  cherished  object  in  this  undertaking  is,  to  introduce 
within  the  general  scope  of  Polite  Literature,  a  popular 
Natural  History:  upon  the  production  of  which  I  have  so 
brought  to  bear  the  latest  discoveries  of  Science,  in  the 
application  of  mechanical  forces  to  pictorial  illustration,  as 
to  cheapen  all  their  cost  without  any  deterioration  of  artistic 
value ;  and  bring  the  essential  spirit  of  what  have  been  here- 
tofore as  sealed  books,  from  their  excessive  costliness,  within 
«e>  ' 

g$  the  reach  of  the  People. 

*~L      Then,  again,  what  I  mean  by  "popular"  is  to  be  found 
Sg  in  a   regard   of  the   highest   sense  of  this  vulgarized    and 
52  misused  term  in  contrast  with  that  of  the  scholastic  use  of 
yet  "technical" — a  work  belonging  rather  to  the  general  litera- 
3e  ture  than  technical  science  of  Natural  History — treating  of 
5  its  facts  as  well  as  cognate   associations.     A  work,  indeed, 
aiming   to   be    as  gay  as   it   is    grave — as  fanciful  as  it  is 
profound — as   theoretical  as    accurate — as  full  of  flesh  and 
blood  as  of  philosophy — as  human  as  it  is  transcendental — 
as  rhapsodically  intoxicate  as  the  hale  air  and  blithe  sunshine 
out-of-doors  can  make  it — and  just    sufficiently  spiced  with 
"learning"  not  to  make  one  "mad."     A  work  in  which  the 
Animal  Kingdom  shall  illustrate  the  Spiritual,  and  the  Spirit- 
ual the  Animal,  as  well.     A  work  in  which  Bird  and  Beast 
shall  be  humanized  to  Man  through  Nature,  and  Man  shown 
to  have  been  inhumanized  to  Beast  and  Bird  through  Society 
• — which  shall  rebuke  fanaticism  for  its  ignorance  of  natural 
laws,  while  it  shall  plead  against  wantonness  with  our  race 
for  reconciliation  and  for  mercy  to  the  humblest  of  God's 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

creatures; — in  a  word,  which  shall  endeavor  always,  and  in 
every  country,  to  present  the  Human  Actor  with  the  natural 
scene — the  hunter  with  the  hunted — and  the  Hunter-Natural- 
ist, placed  amidst  his  chosen  accessories,  however  remote, 
whether  of  climate,  individual  action  and  adventure,  or  the 
living  and  characteristic  objects  of  his  pursuit. 

And  who  is  this  Hunter-Naturalist?  I  answer,  something 
of  the  Primitive  Hunter  and  modern  Field-Naturalist  com- 
bined. The  name  best  defines  itself — since  .ffuftZer-Naturalist 
implies  at  once  a  rugged  and  freebooter  intrusion  into  the 
realms  of  Nature,  in  which  the  nice  mail  of  Science  has  ex- 
changed its  glitter  and  its  polish  for  the  greasy,  powder-black- 
ened, blood-stained  buckskins  of  the  rough,  earnest  wilderness. 

While  pretending  to  no  dainty  refinements  of  technical 
accuracy,  if  his  clear  eye,  aided  by  his  stout  limbs,  explores, 
discovers  and  assists  to  glorify,  through  art  and  thought,  the 
wide  fields  of  Natural  Science,  I  see  no  good  reason  why  his 
pale  Brother  of  the  Closet  should  sneer  at  him  if  he  forgets 
his  Latin  in  a  "  stampede,"  or  spells  the  jaw-cracking  name  of 
a  genus  wrong,  when  his  notes  are  often  written,  as  much  by 
the  flashes  of  the  covering  storm,  or  the  smouldering  light  of 
a  half-drowned  fire,  as  by  honest  sun  light. 

Familiar  with  Nature  in  all  her  modes  and  moods,  the 
Hunter-Naturalist  is  he  who  being  accustomed  to  know  her 
through  the  medium  of  his  own  senses  rather  than  books,  should 
only  be  held  responsible,  in  a  scientific  sense,  for  what  he  him- 
self has  felt,  seen,  tasted,  smelt,  heard,  and  thought,  out  in 
unchallenged  communion  with  the  secrets  of  his  great  Mother. 
His  observations  then  are  essentially  his  own. 

They  but  constitute  one  man's  impressions  of  Natuio,  and 
convey  an  individual  method  of  expressing  them,  which  may 
be  as  reliable  in  the  facts  presented, — to  say  the  least  of  it, 
— as  if  they  had  been  drained,  diluted,  altered  and  amended 
through  the  musty  pages  of  an  hundred  folios. 

Not  that  I  would  presume  by  any  means  to  arrogate  for 


INTKODUCTION.  5 

the  Hunter-Naturalist,  even  under  my  own  comprehensive 
definition  of  his  mission,  any  independence  of  his  pale 
Brother,  so  far  as  his  relations  to  absolute  science  are  con- 
cerned. His  individual  observations  would  soon  become,  to 
the  stern  accuracy  of  practical  classification,  more  crude 
than  savage  myths;  and  his  deductions  vaguer  than  the 
shadows  of  a  day-dream — but  that  when  submitted  to  this 
colder,  more  learned,  and  deliberate  analysis,  his  "facts"  and 
his  "discoveries"  have  been  inexorably  technicalized. 

Yet  from  my  earliest  childhood  I  have  felt  individually 
wronged  when  constantly  compelled  to  turn  from  the  dry, 
inert  and  formal  methods  of  "the  Books,"  to  the  gay,  sug- 
gestive or  subtile  treatment  of  the  Goldsmiths,  Huberts  and 
St.  Pierres,  who  have  spoken  so  successfully  for  the  People, 
the  charmed  "  sesame"  of  Science — or  else  in  hopeless  sense 
of  the  comparatively  narrowed  artificialities  of  each,  have 
thrown  myself  back,  with  a  calmed  and  steadied  enthusiasm, 
upon  the  devouter  study  of  those  green  and  living  pages  of  the 
Natural  World,  which  have  never  yet  failed  me  in  their  truth. 

Thus  in  assuming  my  position  with  regard  to  the  method  of 
treating  the  subjects  of  Natural  History,  to  be  observed  in 
this  work,  the  whole  matter  has  resolved  itself  with  me  into 
the  simple  question  whether  "lion-heart"  and  "eagle-eye" 
shall  be  banished  from  heroic  poetry,  because  they  lack  the 
learned  prefixes  of  Aquillce  and  Leonis — or  sentimental 
rhymes  resign  all  images  of  "plaintive  Philomels,"  "  cooing 
Doves,"  and  "Gazelle  eyes,"  because  they  are  not  defined  to 
the  people  according  to  the  "  dead  letter"  of  Museum  cata- 
logues ? — or,  indeed,  whether  it  be  vitally  essential  to  the 
general  purposes  of  human  enlightenment,  that  "all  the  world" 
should  become  strictly  technical  Naturalists,  in  the  scientific 
sense,  before  the  many  who  possess  an  eye  for  the  Beautiful,  an 
ear  for  its  language,  a  spiritual  recognition  of  its  unities,  and 
heart  for  the  joy  it  brings,  can  be  admitted  to  its  presence? 

It  is  thus  the  feeling  has  continued  to  grow  with  my 
growth,  and  strengthen  with  my  strength,  that  the  Literature 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

of  Natural  History  has  been  too  much  circumscribed  within 
the  mere  formulas-  of  Scientific  utility  to  meet  the  mental 
requisitions  of  the  period  in  its  text,  or  the  practical  demand 
for  cheapness  in  its  illustration,  which  the  rapid  progress 
of  discovery  in  this  department  clearly  demands  !  I  have, 
therefore,  in  bringing  this  enterprise  to  a  head,  consistently 
acted  with  |an  early  conceived  purpose,  that  so  far  as  the 
devotion  of  individual  energies  could  go,  the  General  Mind 
should  no  longer  be  thus  rudely  shut  off  from  the  contempla- 
tion of  themes  which,  in  their  free  and  legitimate  presenta- 
tion, are  the  most  healthful,  refreshing  and  ennobling  !  I 
speak  this  in  no  arrogance,  for  of  such  I  have  no  sense — but 
of  a  collected  purpose. 

I  have  remarked  that  this  first  Volume  is  put  forward  as 
merely  an  introductory  to  the  Series.  My  object  has  been 
to  present  my  Reader  at  once  to  the  Hunter-Naturalist  in 
that  broad  and  comprehensive  meaning  of  the  character  which 
it  implies  to  me.  The  Narrative  and  Sketchy  form  into  which 
I  have  moulded  this  Volume,  is  to  continue  a  distinctive  feature 
of  the  Series.  The  wild  creature  and  its  Human  peer  must  go 
together  in  our  treatment — the  one  re-acts  upon  and  modifies 
the  other ;  let  us  exhibit  the  passions  and  the  life  of  both. 
Therefore,  in  each  successive  volume,  whether  it  be  the  Wild 
Indian  and  his  Buffalo — the  Trapper  and  his  Beaver — the 
buck-skinned  Nomad  of  Art  and  Science,  with  Specimen-box 
and  precious  Port-folio  of  Drawings — or  the  amateur  Adven- 
turer with  his  insatiable  appetite  for  novelty — however  foreign, 
strange,  or  distant  such  may  be,  they  shall  appear  amidst  their 
separate  accessories  of  the  Animal  World. 

Each  Volume  shall  contain  at  least  five  such  Plates  as  those 
we  give  in  this,  devoted  to  the  illustration  of  the  Wild  Scenes 
of  our  own  Indian  Border  Life,  which  will  be  furnished  from 
the  noble  and  unequalled  pencil  of  Alfred  J.  Miller,  of  Bal- 
timore, who  accompanied  Sir  William  Drummond  Stuart,  on 
his  noted  expedition  among  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  Plains, 
as  Artist.  How  splendidly  he  has  accomplished  his  mission 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

those  who  may  not  be  familiar  with  his  former  works  will  at 
once  comprehend,  in  looking  over  the  five  first  Lithographs  in 
this  volume.  I  say  with  perfect  confidence  that  it  remains 
yet  for  Art  in  this  country,  to  approach  the  amazing  fidelity 
and  spirit  of  these  Drawings — and  his  glorious  Portfolio  is  hut 
yet  just  opened  !  I  shall  give  in  addition — as  in  this  volume — 
five  other  Lithographs  of  Foreign  Scenes  quite  as  elaborately 
drawn,  but  of  less  costly  finish.  And  I  hope  so  far  to  perfect, 
through  the  skill  of  my  Lithographer,  Mr.  Rosenthall,  the 
processes  by  which  he  has  produced  these  unparalleled  speci- 
mens of  the  art  of  Printing  in  colors  upon  stone,  as  to  be  able 
to  present  all  the  figures  of  animal  life  in  color  and  at  a  cost 
which  will  come  within  the  limit  of  that  of  the  present  volume. 
This  I  shall  regard  as  indeed  a  triumph.  But  the  Reader  will 
perceive,  that  in  the  singular  skill  with  which  the  colorist  and 
lithographer,  have  produced  the  pictures  for  this  volume,  I 
arid  he  have  much  to  anticipate.  I  hope  through  such  able 
seconding  to  demonstrate,  that  the  art  of  printing  in  colors, 
which  is  yet  in  embryo  in  Europe,  has  been  left  for  us  to  de- 
velope  in  this  country,  as  we  have  that  of  Daguerreotyping. 

I  scarcely  think  that  any  specimens  of  that  mysterious  art 
can  be  produced  in  England,  where  it  has  been  longest  a 
subject  of  emulation,  that  will  compare  with  my  first  five  litho- 
graphs by  Rosenthall  and  Kramer,  from  Miller — at  least  I 
am  very  well  content  to  abide  the  issue  of  public  sentiment 
with  regard  to  this  first  experiment  'in  a  novel  field ! 

Here  I  would  introduce  to  the  Reader  a  new  ally — such  an 
one  as  certainly  is  not  often  presented  in  such  enterprises. 
This  is  no  less  a  personage  than  my  "little  Wife,"  Mrs.  E.  M. 
Webber,  whose  portrait  you  see  associated  with  my  own  on 
the  title  page  of  this  volume.  She  is  an  Artist;  and  to  her 
hand  I  am  indebted  for  much  of  the  fine  work  in  illustration 
of  this  volume.  But  this  is  not  her  peculiar  field — the  delicate 
accuracy  of  the  Woman  artist  will  be  more  prominently  and 
characteristically  displayed  in  our  second  volume,  the  title 
of  which  will  be  "  Wild  Scenes  and  Song  Birds  of  the  World." 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

The  drawings  of  birds  and  flowers  for  this  and  all  succeed- 
ing volumes,  will  be  by  her  ;  arid  I  rest  most  proud  and  happy 
with  such  a  "help-mete"  in  my  labors! 

In  presenting  this  first  volume  to  the  Public,  I  have  felt 
a  proper  diffidence  in  regard  to  the  whole  subject  of  scientific 
classification,  and  have  therefore  solicited  and  fortunately  ob- 
tained aid  in  the  highest  legitimate  quarter  known  amongst  us. 

Mr.  John  Cassin,  the  Secretary  of  the  Academy  of  Natural 
Sciences  in  Philadelphia,  has  consented  to  edit,  with  me,  the 
future  volumes  of  the  series ;  so  that  my  subscribers  and  readers 
may  not  only  rely  upon  the  scientific  accuracy  of  the  work 
through  his  learned  supervision  of  this  department,  but  may 
as  well  look  for  a  ripe,  quaint  and  scholastic  vein  of  humor, 
such  as  has  seldom  been  brought  to  bear  upon  such  themes, 
and  which  will  form  a  pleasing  contrast  with  my  own  head- 
long methods.  I  thus  hope  to  offer  a  work  which  shall  be 
complete  in  itself,  as  a  Salmagundi  of  the  facts,  thoughts 
and  suggestions  of  the  natural  world,  with  enough  of  technical 
accuracy  to  constitute  it  a  reliable  authority  to  the  Student 
of  Science,  and  a  sufficiency  of  genial  reverence,  gaiety  and 
kindliness,  to  render  it  always  a  safe,  welcome  and  valued 
companion  of  the  fireside,  into  the  chaste  penetralia  of  which  I 
so  much  desire  to  win  my  way.  We  should  not  be  permitted  to 
rest  unconscious  of  the  sacred  serenities  of  Nature ;  all  the  har- 
monies rest  therein  and  they  bring  peace  with  them  !  Though 
men  may  grow  callous  and  dumb  in  listening  forever  to  the 
clink  of  dollars,  shall  not  the  sense  of  their  fair  children  be 
attuned  to  voices  more  soft,  more  mellowed,  more  divine ! 

In  conclusion,  I  would  remark,  that  for  my  wood-cuts  I 
am  indebted  to  Mr.  Joseph  T.  Brightly,  who  has  not  only 
performed  his  part  as  an  engraver  ably,  but  has  with  an 
unexpected  skill,  thrown  himself  into  the  department  of 
design,  and  furnished  me  with  the  rough  draughts  of  many 
of  my  finest  wood-cuts.  To  Mr.  A.  AYooclside,  artist  of  this 
city,  I  am  also  much  indebted  for  a  number  of  highly  artistic 
drawings  on  wood. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I.  PACI. 

Bird,  Beast,  and  Hunter 17 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Boy  Hunter 34 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Naturalist  Developing 54 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Night  Hunt  in  Recess 75 

CHAPTER  V. 
Audubon — the  Hunter-Naturalist — Audubon  and  Wilson 87 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Audubon  and  Boone 123 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Grave  of  the  Silent  Hunter 191 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Old  Bill  Smith— the  Silent  Hunter 211 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Hunters  of  Kentucky — James  Harrod  of  Harrodsburg '231 

CHAPTER  X. 
The  Fox  and  Fox  Hunting  in  America 248 

CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Texan  Huntress 274 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Metaphysics  of  Bear  Hunting 343 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Hunting  Peccaries  in  Texas — a  Bear-Hunt  without  the  Meta- 
physics   381 


10  CONTENTS. 

PAOH 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  Buffalo 394 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Panthers,  and  our  other  Felines 403 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Captain  Dan  Henrie  ;  his  Adventure  with  "Wolves 425 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
The  Darkle  Fiddler  and  the  Wolves 446 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Skater  Chased  by  Wolves 454 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  Mustang,  or  Wild  Horse 4GO 

CHAPTER  XX. 
A  Bird's-eye  View  of  the  Speclater 472 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
Trolling  in  June 482 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
A  Night-hunt  up  the  Cungamunck 492 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
Trouting  on  Jessup's  River 503 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
Anecdotes  of  Moose  and  Deer  Hunting  among  the  Northern  Lakes.  515 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
Hunting  Elephants  in  South  Africa 53G 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
The  Giraffe 561 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
South  African  Lions 572 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
The  Rhinoceros  and  Hippopotamus 594 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
Buffalo  and  Antelopes  of  South  Africa 604 


1I1E  WILD  HUNTSMAN. 


THE    ROMANCE    OF    SPORTING, 


CHAPTER  I. 


BIRD,    BEAST   AND   HUNTER. 

THE  air  is  filled  with  birds  that  fly,  and  are  pursued  by 
bird  and  beast.  The  earth,  with  beasts  that  run,  and  are 
pursued  by  beast  and  bird ;  while  man,  in  a  world  of  pursuers 
and  pursued,  is  chief  hunter  of  them  all ! 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  case  in  primeval  times,  it 
certainly  seems  very  natural  now  that  our  relations  to  the  living 
creatures  by  which  we  are  surrounded  should  be  mainly  1  hose 
of  hunter  and  the  hunted ;  and  that  these  relations  should  be 
most  immediate  to  bird  and  beast  seems  equally  of  course, 
since  they  more  nearly  approach  us  on  the  ascending  scale 

2  17 


18  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

of  being.  But  these  most  intimate  relations  to  the  life  below 
us  express  far  more  than  is  conveyed  in  mere  consanguinity, 
for  they  are  each  separate  and  living  types  of  our  compounded 
selves. 

Thus  we  see  in  the  bird  the  type  of  our  intellect — of  the 
soul.  We  feel  that  they  address  the  imagination,  appeal  to 
what  is  exulting  and  exalting  in  us — to  "  the  aspiration  in 
our  heels !" 

The  beast,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  type  of  our  sensuous 
life — it  appeals  to  our  material  and  lower  impulses.  It  pre- 
figures and  embodies  individually  those  purely  physical  attri- 
butes which  we  find  expressed  in  man  the  Microcosm.  In  a 
word,  quadrupeds  are  the  indices  of  our  passions  which  belong 
to  sense;  and  birds,  of  our  passions  which  belong  to  soul. 
The  bird  has  wings,  and  like  thought,  triumphs  over  time 
and  space.  It  lives  in  the  pure  ether,  and  all  its  modes  and 
associations  are  apparently  those  of  the  soul's  life. 

"As  birds  •within  the  wind 

As  fish  within  the  wave, 
As  the  thought  of  man's  own  mind 

Floats  through  all  above  the  grave." 

Even  the  impulses  of  the  bird  are  those  of  cold  and  clear 
intellection.  When  it  strikes  it  kills — the  quick,  fierce, 
promptitude  of  appetite  knows  no  pause.  It  never  dallies 
with  the  prey,  to  gloat  upon  its  agonies  and  heat  a  hunger 
on  the  struggles  of  fear  in  the  efforts  to  escape,  as  do  the 
felines  and  many  others  of  the  quadrupeds.  With  it  to  feel 
is  to  do,  and  to  do  quickly.  Veni,  vidi,  vici !  is  the  accepted 
motto  of  fiery,  keen,  victorious  thought.  They  are  the  vicious 
and  ignoble  sluggards  of  action  that  creep  to  conquer.  The 
beast  is  crushed  by  its  grossness,  and  in  its  highest  moods  is 
a  crawler,  with  its  belly  in  the  dust.  Even  in  the  exultings 
of  its  passion,  in  the  murderous  bound  upon  its  prey,  it  must 
shake  the  earth  from  its  claws.  It  is  indeed,  "  of  the  earth, 


BIRD,   BEAST  AND   HUNTER.  19 

earthy,"  and  associated  with  the  baseness  and  lowliness  of 
filth  and  dirt.  However  nice  it  may  be,  however  intact  of 
the  habitual  soil  it  may  keep  its  pelage,  yet  are  its  appetites 
thirsty  for  blood  like  the  absorbing  earth ;  its  passions  linger- 
ing, deadly,  but  sure  as  the  revolving  seasons.  Birds  do  not 
linger  so.  When  they  strike,  it  is  for  the  death;  and  then, 
with  no  pause  between,  they  swallow.  Sometimes,  as  with 
many  of  the  fishers,  they  do  not  even  tarry  that  they  may 
tear  their  prey,  but  deglutate  alive. 

As  with  the  higher  intellection,  alimentation  seems  with 
the  bird  rather  a  means  than  an  end.  Life  has  higher  blisses 
for  them,  and  they  eat  to  live ;  while  the  animal  but  lives  to 
eat.  The  joy  of  wings,  of  sunshine  and  of  singing,  of  battle 
with  the  wind  and  storms,  of  rocking  on  the  wave  of  forest- 
tops,  or  swinging  with  the  bound  of  waters,  is  with  the  bird 
the  nobler  purpose ;  while  the  beast  must  lick  its  thirsty 
chops  forever,  and  with  baleful  eye  glare  always  the  insatiate 
lust  of  ravin  through  the  smiles  of  peaceful  nature  ! 

With  all  this  we  have  to  confess  that  as  yet  the  beast 
more  closely  approximates  our  sympathies,  appeals  to  us 
through  more  numerous  traits  of  consanguinity  than  the 
bird.  This,  though  honest,  and  sufficiently  honorable  to  us, 
is  nevertheless  most  humiliating  to  a  transcendental  pride. 

They  who  would  have  the  human  all  spiritualized,  with 
wings,  forget  that  such  conditions  belong  to  a  remote  de- 
velopment, or  the  other  life ;  that,  linked  as  we  are  here  with 
the  material,  it  is  as  brave  of  us,  and  as  necessary,  that  we 
should  be  true  animals,  as  that  we  should  be  true  angels. 
Our  mingled  being  can,  as  yet,  be  neither  one  nor  the  other 
wholly,  but  must  wisely  compound  between  the  extremes,  and 
be  simply  what  we  are — men  !  As  men,  then,  all  the  vene- 
rable past  is  sacred  to  our  memory,  as  the  cheerful  future 
is  to  our  hope.  The  youth  of  humanity,  in  which  the  mate- 
rial or  passionate  life  predominated  so  much  over  the  spiritual, 
was  just  as  excellent  and  as  noble  as  its  present  condition. 


20  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

Our  past  is  as  illustrious  in  its  facts  as  our  future  can  ever 
be  in  its  hopes.  "We  should  as  much  venerate  that  antediluvian 
era  in  which  our  giant  progenitors  wrestled  hand  to  claw 
with  their  brute  antagonists,  as  this  latter  one,  in  which  our 
science,  through  chemistry  and  mechanics,  has  so  entirely 
quelled  and  fully  restrained  them. 

Although  fanatics  may  regard  this  proposition  as  crude 
and  profane,  it  is,  nevertheless,  absolutely  true,  that  begin- 
ning with  germination,  every  stage  of  development  to  its 
highest  point,  is  equally  honorable  and  to  be  honored.  Is 
the  flower  with  the  sun-light  on  it  more  to  be  regarded  than 
the  first  pale  leaf  which  struggles  to  the  air  from  out  the 
gloomy  foldings  of  the  earth  ?  Is  the  great  tree,  bending 
beneath  the  ruddy  weight  of  fruitage,  more  respectable  in 
God's  economy  of  progress,  than  the  small  dark  seed  from  the 
entombment  of  which  its  proud  show  is  the  resurrection  ? 

Struggle,  throughout  all  life,  so  far  as  it  has  been  revealed 
to  us,  is  the  law  of  ascension,  as  well  as  of  fixed  grades ;  and 
hence  we  justify  all  those  rude  antagonisms  between  man  and 
man,  which  a  namby-pamby  scntimentalism  would  convert 
into  the  "piping  times  of  peace."  War  is  a  legitimate  con- 
sequence of  the  conditions  of  our  race,  and  all  the  concomitants 
of  war,  martial  games,  hunting,  &c.,  are  equally  legitimate. 
It  is  astonishing  that  the  lymphatic  "  peace"  men  should  leave 
out  of  view  the  fact,  that  when  battle  and  death  shall  cease, 
the  whole  animal  world  must  be  annihilated.  In  the  first 
place,  even  the  graminivorous  animals  live  upon  the  destruction 
of  some  forms  of  animal  life.  There  is  no  blade  of  grass  or 
leaf  plucked  by  them,  upon  which  myriads  of  animalculrc  and 
hundreds  of  insects  are  not  destroyed — they  cannot  move 
upon  the  surface  of  the  earth  without  destroying  such  crea- 
tures— every  lifting  of  a  hoof  leaves  crushed  and  writhing 
victims  in  its  track,  and  when  the  foot  comes  down,  it  is  like 
Behemoth  raging  through  the  thronged  cities  of  men.  The 
law  is,  that  animal  life  must  be  perpetuated  through  death 


BIRD,   BEAST  AND   HUNTER.  21 

and  decay.  The  carnivorous  animals  confessedly  live  by  mu- 
tual destruction.  How  ridiculous  is  the  effort  to  institute  a 
scale  of  sympathy,  at  the  head  of  which  the  red-blooded  ani- 
mals are  to  be  placed  as  more  nearly  appealing  to  our  mercy. 
They  are,  to  be  sure,  nearest  in  fact,  for  the  reason  that  we 
too  are  red-blooded  animals. 

What  right  have  we  to  suppose  that  the  animalcule  or  a 
caterpillar  does  not  experience  the  same  pangs  from  sudden 
dissolution,  that  are  felt  by  ourselves,  or  a  stag  or  a  boar  ? 
What  difference,  in  this  respect,  does  it  make  whether  the 
blood  of  the  slain  creature  be  red,  green  or  white  ?  Is  not 
every  vegetable  devoured,  even  by  your  Gfrahamite,  a  micro- 
cosm of  the  world,  and  like  it  populous  with  living  things  ? 
If  then  the  destruction  of  animal  life  be  a  crime,  does  He 
who  marks  the  fall  of  every  sparrow,  regard  with  less  com- 
placency this  wholesale  annihilation  of  a  little  world,  with  all 
its  joys  and  passions,  by  the  remorseless  jaws  of  that  soft- 
hearted vegetable  eater  ?  Four-fifths  of  the  creatures  which 
are  visible  to  the  naked  eye  live  in  our  sight  upon  mutual 
destruction — while  the  remaining  fifth  live  by  the  destruction 
of  those  creatures  of  the  existence  of  which  the  microscope 
has  taught  us  !  Where  will  our  sickly  benevolence  stop  ?  All 
things  that  live  in  the  grades  below  man  are  the  fungi  of  decay, 
and  all  that  is  material  of  him  is  alike  so  !  Death  is  indeed 
so  entirely  the  law  of  life,  that  though  fed  on  air  you  must 
do  murder  with  every  breath ;  it  is  the  fuel  of  all  life,  except, 
perhaps,  that  of  baby  ethics,  alias,  transcendentalism  ! 

Why,  then,  give  to  the  red-blooded  animals  so  dispropor- 
tionate an  amount  of  sympathy  ?  The  monadic,  vegetable 
and  insect  lives,  are  as  necessary  to  the  economy  of  God's 
World,  as  he  has  been  pleased  to  institute  it,  as  our  own,  or 
the  lives  of  any  other  of  the  higher  animals. 

Indeed,  it  is  a  curious  fact,  entirely  left  out  of  view  in 
modern  theories,  that  even  the  lustful  battles  of  the  animal 
tribes  among  themselves,  are  necessary  to  their  own  integrity 


22  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS.       . 

and  perpetuation.  In  these  battles,  which  always  result  in 
mutilation  and  death  to  many,  the  strong,  of  course,  conquer, 
and  the  weak  being  killed  or  driven  off,  are  prevented  from 
perpetuating  their  own  imbecility,  and  thus  degenerating  the 
race.  All  are  familiar  with  the  savage  contests  of  the  ca- 
nines, felines,  &c.  At  such  periods,  even  among  the  grami- 
nivorous tribes,  old  Spencer  tells  of 

"As  greet  a  noyse  as  when  in  Cymbrian  plain 
An  heard  of  bulles  whome  kindly  rage  doth  sting, 

Doe  for  the  milky  mother's  want  complain, 
And  fill  the  fields  with  troublous  bellowing." 

It  is  a  fact,  with  regard  to  the  habits  of  the  Mustangs,  or 
wild  horses  of  our  great  prairies,  which  we  have  frequently 
observed  personally,  that  the  weaker  stallions  are  invariably, 
after  desperate  contests,  cither  killed  or  driven  into  solitary 
banishment,  from  which  they  never  return  to  the  herd,  until 
their  strength  and  prowess  have  been  so  far  developed  in  the 
solitude,  as  to  give  them  some  hopes  of  being  able  to  triumph 
in  a  renewed  struggle  with  their  conquerors.  The  marcs,  in 
the  mean  time,  are  passive  observers,  and  surrender  without 
hesitation,  to  whichever  of  the  opponents  may  have  demon- 
strated the  right  to  approach  them  legitimately.  There  is  a 
still  more  curious  instance,  which  we  have  learned  from  books, 
of  this  stern  recognition  of  the  utilitarian  principle  amongst 
the  lower  animals.  The  stork,  which  belongs  to  the  old 
world,  and  is  a  migrating  bird,  furnishes  this  illustration.  It 
is  said,  that  when  the  period  for  their  annual  journey  arrives, 
all  those  storks  who  neighbor  in  the  district  assemble,  as  do 
our  martins  and  swallows,  at  a  given  place,  for  the  purpose 
of  practising  their  wings,  and  thoroughly  testing  their  powers 
of  flight,  before  they  set  off  on  their  long  pilgrimage  towards 
the  Orient.  After  several  weeks,  spent  in  aerial  circlings  and 
evolutions,  the  stronger  storks  suddenly  fall  upon  those  which 
have  shown,  in  this  probation,  such  deficient  energy  of  wing, 


BIRD,    BEAST   AND   HUNTER.  23 

as  to  make  it  unsafe  for  them  to  undertake  the  projected 
flight,  without  embarrassment  to  their  comrades,  and  dispatch 
them  with  their  long  sharp  beaks,  sending  them  as  quickly 
thumping  to  the  earth,  as  if  a  rifle-ball  had  struck  them  to 
the  heart.  Here  is  a  necessitarian  justice,  coming  out  of  tho 
code  God  himself  has  instituted  for  the  government  of  his 
natural  world,  which  will  no  doubt  greatly  horrify  the  sickly 
word-heroes  of  the  anti-capital  punishment  and  non-resistant 
creeds.  Although  God  himself  has  established  these  severe 
ultimatums,  there  are  those  wiser  than  he,  who  would  substi- 
tute their  own  pale  shadows  of  thought  for  the  nervous  sub- 
stance of  his  will ! 

I  do  not  deny  progress,  even  in  the  fanatics'  sense  of  it ; 
but  I  assert  that  war  has  been  one  of  its  greatest  physical 
agents;  that  it  has  convulsed  and  broken  up  those  stagna- 
tions of  the  moral  sense  which  would  have  been  fatal  to  it. 
Though  the  necessity  for  war  is  gradually  giving  way  to  the 
higher  and  more  defined  development  of  the  spiritual  life, 
yet  it  must,  for  a  long  time  yet,  continue  to  be  an  important 
agent  of  civilization. 

Do  not  let  us,  in  the  meantime,  forget  that  the  vocation  of 
the  soldier  and  laborer  is  as  honorable  in  God's  sight,  and  as 
necessary  to  the  real  progress  of  humanity,  as  that  of  the 
intellectualist.  And  do  not  let  us  forget,  either,  that  all 
those  associations  of  the  past,  which  link  our  race  more  imme- 
diately with  these  under  types  of  passional  life,  are  equally 
glorious  Avith  that  primeval  time,  when  Ham,  with  the  hirsute 
strength,  and  passion  for  the  chase,  which  gave  birth  from 
him  to  the  stalwart  progeny  of  "mighty  hunters  before  the 
Lord,"  perpetuated  those  fierce  instincts  of  combat  and 
destruction,  which  have  made  the  gloom  as  well  as  the  glory 
of  our  progress.  Brave  times,  certainly,  were  those  of 

"Nimrod,  the  founder 

Of  empire  and  chase, 
Who  made  the  woods  wonder, 

And  quake  for  their  race; 


24  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

When  the  lion  was  young, 

In  the  pride  of  his  might, 
Then  'twas  sport  for  the  strong 

To  embrace  him  in  fight: 
To  go  forth  with  a  pine 

For  a  spear  'gainst  the  mammoth, 
Or  strike  through  the  ravine 

At  the  foaming  behemoth ; 
While  man  was  in  stature 

As  towers  in  our  time-  — 
The  first-born  of  nature, 

And  like  her.  sublime." 

And  something  of  the  same  rough  stupendous  cast  from 
nature's  mould,  must  have  been  an  old  Briton  of  that  young 
time,  when  the  first  Roman  came  across,  as  the  earliest  navi- 
gator to  civilize — for  it  is  certain,  that  if  the  Romans  came 
as  conquerors,  they  came  equally  as  civilizers.  And  though 
they  found  the  man  savagely  rude,  yet,  also,  they  found  that 
he  had  taken  one  step,  at  least,  towards  the  investment  of 
civilization.  From  him  Spencer  took  his  famous  picture — 

"About  his  shoulders  broad  he  threw 

An  harie  hide  of  some  wild  beast,  whom  hee 

In  salvage  forest  by  adventure  slew, 

And  reft  the  spoyle  his  ornament  to  bee, 

Which  spreading  all  his  back  with  dreadful  view, 

Made  all  that  him  eo  horrible  did  see, 

Think  him  Alcidea  with  the  lyon's  skin, 

When  the  Neamean  conquest  he  did  win." 

And  now  with  the  knotted  club  in  hand,  the  round  bull's- 
hide  shield  advanced,  with  the  long  matted  locks,  hairy  limbs, 
and  savage  eyes,  we  have  a  pretty  clear  outline  of  the  fierce 
wild  figures  which  met  "with  dreadful  view"  the  Roman 
gallics  in  the  surf  on  their  descent. 

They  were  strange  times,  too — those  of  the  acorn-eating 
Druids.  The  Man  was,  in  fact,  but  a  few  degrees  removed 
above  the  brute,  from  which  he 

" Reft  the  spoyle  his  ornament  to  bee," 


BIRD,   BEAST   AND   HUNTER.  25 


so  far  as  habits  went.  But  habits  are  not  all  the  man,  and 
they  were  most  sublime  rites,  the  incense  of  which  went  up 
from  beneath  those  truest  temples — the  sacred  forests !  At 
such  a  period  the  strong  contrasts  are  exhibited.  The  brute- 
man  literally  wrestles  with  his  brute  prototype  for  glory. 
"  spoyle,"  and  food ;  while  the  higher  man  sits  with  grey 
venerable  poll  beneath  the  leafy  shadows  of  his  sacred  place, 
musing  beside  a  rude  stone  altar ;  or  on  the  plain,  upturns 
the  white  calm  of  his  time-beleagured  front  towards  the  stars, 
in  still  communion  with  their  mystari.s. 

Then  conies  that  finer  union  of  the  animal  and  spiritual  lives, 
when  the  science  of  Eld  Egypt — the  God-revealed  legislation 
of  the  Hebrew — the  magic  of  the  far  wondrous  East — the 
Ionian  polish,  and  the  Roman  sternness,  had,  in  their  gradual 
progress  towards  the  West,  so  greatly  modified  human  devel- 
opment, that,  out  of  such  combinations,  chivalry  sprung  forth. 
This  is  that  most  generous  balance  of  the  two  natures,  which 
even  at  the  present  day  more  nearly  appeals  to  our  nobler 
instincts ;  and 

"In  rough  magnificence  arrayed, 
When  ancient  chivalry  displayed 


26 


WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 


The  pomp  of  her  heroic  games, 

And  crested  chiefs  and  tissued  dames 

Assembled  at  the  clarion's  call, 

In  some  proud  castle's  high  arched  hall" 

— we  have  the  most  illustrious  period  of  our  race,  in  which, 
through  the  expansion  of  the  higher  virtues,  woman  emerged 
to  her  true  place,  and  stood  forth  in  light — the  angel  of  the 
fireside  !  Though  the  feudal  age  was  partial  in  its  immediate 
effects,  and  the  masses  were  still  held  in  rude  vassalage,  yet 
Buch  developments  as  came  to  and  for  the  few,  were  large 
and  grand.  Then  came  the  accession,  though  it  was  much 
confined  to  the  privileged  classes,  of  that  bold  individuality 
which  dared  to  question  any  despotism,  or  hoary  precedent 
for  truth,  and  out  of  which  emancipation,  sprung  those  liberal 
opinions  which  have  so  far  through  blood  and  "  terror"  worked 
out  the  modern  ideas  of  liberty  and  equality.  Thence  came, 
too,  those  regal  impulses — those  mild  and  liberal  sentiments, 
which  in  their  open-handed  dispensations  fell  like  the  benedic- 
tion of  blessed  dews  from  heaven,  upon  the  feverish  embittered 
struggle  of  man  with  man  ;  and  which  cooled  down  their  heat, 
restoring  that  calm,  mutual  faith,  that  is  the  basis  of  any 


BIRD,    BEAST   AND   HUNTEK.  27 

attempt  at  self-government.  Thence  came  as  well  "the 
pomp  and  circumstance"  of  tournaments  and  hunts,  in  which 
"the  civil  courteseys"  of  polished  intercourse  was  most  deli- 
cately denned,  even  amidst  the  stern  collisions  of  opposing 
forces,  and  from  which  all  those  beautiful  amenities,  named 
politeness  by  modern  civilization,  had  their  truest  source. 

Then  the  human  chased  the  brute,  surrounded  by  all  the 
regalia  of  a  more  exalted  state,  and  the  physical  was  culti- 
vated through  magnificence.  Then  "crested  chiefs,  and 
tissued  dames,"  were  not  above  being  thoroughly  developed 
men  and  women.  Animals  now  arose  to  a  more  correct  esti- 
mation, and  under  the  proper  culture,  soon  became  rather  the 
companions  and  subjects  of  our  hilarious  sports,  than  abject 
slaves  and  enemies,  or  objects  of  alimentive  lust.  Then  the 
fleet  and  fire-eyed  barbs  were  transported  from  their  desert 
homes,  with  all  the  appointments  of  a  ducal  progress,  to  lend 
their  game  and  tireless  speed  to  the  ambition  of  our  rural 
sports.  Then  the  boar  was  left  to  whet  his  tusks  and  strength 
together  in  his  native  and  inviolated  solitudes,  until  his  savage 
energies  came  to  him,  and  he  was  fitted  to  add  that  hardy 
attraction  to  the  chase  which  danger  gives.  So  was  the  stag 
nourished  in  those  solemn  forest  haunts  where  its  antlered 
pride  grew  and  was  matured  for  the  noble  struggle  of  its 
chase.  Even  the  falcon,  with  its  steel-hinged  wings,  and  in- 
domitable wildness,  was  brought  down  from  its  crag-eyrie  to 
serve  our  pastimes ;  and  falconry  became  the  most  graceful 
of  all  the  sports  in  which  the  two  sexes  elegantly  united. 
Then  came  the  manly  fox  hunt,  in  which  sly  Reynard's  cun- 
ning was  made  to  increase  the  joviality  and  excitement  of 
the  pursuit,  and  from  which  this  creature  has  made  itself 
associate  with  the  lusty  habitudes  and  ruddy  cheeks  of  the 
English  gentry. 

But  the  free  and  courteous  indications  thus  nourished, 
soon  opened  for  the  race  a  new  field,  as  well  as  novel  sur- 
roundings, in  which  their  legitimate  results  would  be  wrought 


28  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

out  fairly.  The  New  World  was  discovered  by  a  bold  in- 
quisition of  science,  which  the  newly  released  thought — 
exulting  in  its  freedom — could  only  have  attempted ;  and 
was  conquered  by  the  proud  daring  of  a  chivalry,  which  wag 
first  sublime  to  undertake  and  strong  enough  to  accomplish, 
all  that  its  fiery  dreams  had  conceived.  Then  the  Matador 
knights  of  Southern  Europe,  possessed  themselves  of  gold-bear- 
ing, gorgeous  Mexico ;  and  the  cut-and-thrust  agility — the  fero- 
cious cowardice  of  their  national  show,  "the  bull-fight" — has 
been  well  perpetuated  in  the  assassin's  skill  with  the  assassin's 
blade ;  and  the  brutal  thirst  for  blood,  wreaking  itself  the  more 
mercilessly  as  the  victim  is  more  helpless — which  has  distin- 
guished the  modern  Mexico  of  that  conquest ! 

But  another  people — from  the  hardy  North  of  the  Old 
World,  which  has  always  preserved  the  physical  integrity  of 
its  races — went  across  to  possess  the,  to  them,  congenial 
North  of  the  New. 

The  elemental  war — the  thundering  of  wind-driven  waves 
upon  "the  rock-bound  coast" — the  white  desolation  of  snowa 
crowning  the  cliffs  and  bowing  the  gnarled  tangles  of  scrubby 
forests,  had  no  formidable  terrors  to  them — whose  manhood 
had  been  cultivated  amidst  the  out-door  hardships  of  those 
gallant  feudal  sports  to  which  we  have  alluded.  They  had 
been  cradled  by  the  tempestuous  North,  and  knew  how  to 
match  all  its  moods  in  self-defence.  They  could  wrench  the 
fire  from  dead  trees  by  friction,  and  even  when  this  resource 
failed,  knew  how  to  strip  the  warm  skin  from  the  newly  slain 
beast  to  wrap  around  them  in  their  slumbers,  and  defy  the 
winter.  They  were  not  appalled  by  the  savage  red  man  with 
his  scalp  lock,  for  they  had  conquered  brutes  as  savage  in 
the  wild  fastnesses  of  their  mutual  home.  Though  certainly 
there  is  a  wide  difference  between  the  rough  boar  hunts, 
through  which  some  of  our  pilgrim  fathers  may  be  supposed 
to  have  been  habituated  to  "  imminent  perils  by  flood  and 
field" — to  which  the  knights  went  forth  with  their  peers 


BIRD,    BEAST   AND   HUNTER.  29 

around  them,  with  hundreds  of  retainers  at  their  heels — and 
those  stern  conflicts  in  the  wide  wilderness  of  our  forests  to 
which  the  single  hunter  went  forth  with  his  rifle  and  knife ; 
and  in  which  he  had  not  only  to  meet  in  awful  solitudes  the 
bear,  the  bison,  the  panther  and  the  moose,  but  as  well,  the 
still  creeping,  deadly  subtlety  of  an  Indian  foe  ! 

The  latter  had  all  the  aid  of  numbers,  and  a  common  pur- 
pose, which,  even  under  imperfect  discipline,  may  convert  a 
physical  coward  into  the  hero.  The  former,  shorn  of  all 
these  associations,  was  compelled  to  push  his  way  alone  into 
the  grim  surrounding  of  the  "howling  waste,"  and  single- 
handed  cope  with  all  its  clangers.  He  came  with  nerves  of 
steel  and  heart  of  rock,  to  subdue  the  bleak  wilderness,  and 
he  accomplished  it — though  "dark  and  bloody  grounds"  may 
have  marked  each  arena  of  his  stern  and  struggling  progress  ! 
His  own  quick  senses,  and  his  prompt  right  arm  were  his 
only  dependences  for  the  preservation  of  "  dear  life  !"  It  is 
not  at  all  astonishing,  then,  that  from  the  nurturings  of  such 
scenes  and  habitudes,  that  bold  and  strong  individuality,  that 
untamable  self-reliance,  which  constitutes  the  basis  of  self- 
government  and  a  free  republic,  should  have  come  forth 
cap-a-pie,  to  assert  its  claim  to  national  character,  in  the 
eight,  or  even  had  it  been  necessary,  the  eighteen  years'  war 
of  a  revolution.  The  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  every  one 
that  has  occurred  since,  proves,  that  however  deficient  in 
discipline,  the  North  Americans  are  the  best  individual  sol- 
diers that  the  world  has  ever  known.  The  remarkable  skill  in 
rifle  shooting,  and  the  constant  familiarity  with  sudden  exi- 
gencies of  the  ruder  sports  of  hunting,  which  the  every-day 
habitudes  of  their  wild  life  has  given  them,  has  fitted  almost 
every  common  soldier  for  the  station  of  an  officer,  so  far  as 
skill,  coolness,  promptness  and  self-dependence  can  go. 

All  the  impulsion  of  our  national  character — all  of  the 
hardy,  stern,  resolute  and  generous  that  may  be  native,  we 
take  through  the  noble  blood  of  our  hunter  ancestors.  That 


30  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUN1ERS. 

terrible  soldiery  which  devastated  Mexico,  was  composed  of 
hunters  almost  to  a  man  ;  the  eagle  they  earned  before  them 
was  a  hunting  bird — the  fierce-eyed  king  of  the  winged  hunters ! 

To  me,  the  wild  and  peculiar  sports  of  our  country,  are 
as  noble  and  ennobling  subjects  of  curiosity,  as  I  feel  our 
science  should  be  of  jealous  accuracy,  and  philosophy  of 
liberal  breadth.  Our  physical  character  has  been  quite  as 
much  developed  by  the  first,  as  our  intellectual  or  moral  by 
the  second,  and  our  spiritual  by  the  last. 

Here,  the  civilized  man,  the  savage  and  the  brute  have 
been  brought  into  extraordinary  relations.  Nor  is  this  all. 
It  is  through  this  remarkable  collision,  that  a  more  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  habits  of  all  the  forms  of  animal  life  has 
been  obtained  in  the  New  World  than  has  come  through 
any  other  source.  The  savage  was  the  earliest  and  most 
accurate  student  of  their  habits,  from  the  necessities  of  his 
condition,  which  compelled  him  to  familiarize  himself  with 
all  their  moods,  in  view  of  the  facilities  for  capture,  which 
the  want  of  food  and  raiment  entailed.  His  familiarity  with 
such  themes  was  then  purely  compulsory,  while  that  of 
our  American  pioneers  has  been  nearly  quite  as  much 
BO.  They,  too,  were  bound  to  be  naturalists.  They  came 
to  the  unbroken  solitudes  to  cope  with  the  savage  in  the 
conditions  of  his  own  life.  Though  they  had  more  science, 
and  a  better  architecture,  yet  were  they  equally  dependant 
for  subsistence  upon  personal  prowess.  They  were  com- 
pelled to  learn  from  their  savage  antagonist — as  tiny  could, 
through  their  manner  of  taking  them — the  nature  and  habits 
of  the  new  animal  races  amongst  which  they  found  them- 
selves. What  they  could  not  acquire  from  such  sources, 
their  own  intelligent  observation  furnished  them  ;  so  that, 
in  reality,  the  first  American  Naturalists  were  our  pioneer 
hunters,  who  learned  through  starvation,  and  all  the  perils  of 
savage  warfare,  and  the  inconstant  seasons,  to  know  more 
accurately  the  habits,  passions,  transitions  and  localities  of 


BIRD,   BEAST  AND   HUNTER.  31 

our  animals,  than  whole  fleets  of  navigators   and  scientific 
pedants  in  silk  stockings,  could  attain  to  in  half  a  century. 

It  is  only  those  who  have  dared  to  live  such  lives  as  they 
did,  and  through  familiar  associations  with  them,  have  been 
enabled  to  unite  scientific  accuracy  with  the  gleanings  of  their 
rude  lore,  who  are  to  be  depended  upon  as  true  delineators. 
Such  men  have  our  great  naturalists  been.  Such  men  were 
Wilson,  Godman  and  Audubon.  With  the  eye,  step,  and 
frame  of  an  Indian — the  astuteness,  nerve  and  intrepid  skill 
of  the  pioneer  hunter,  and  the  learning  of  the  savan  united 
in  himself,  the  Hunter  Naturalist  of  America  has  pushed  his 
way,  rifle  in  hand,  into  the  secret  places  and  confidences  of 
nature.  He  has  carried  her  jealous  defences  by  storm,  and 
may  almost  be  said  to  have  "  wooed  her  as  the  lion  wooes  his 
bride,"  will  ye,  nill  ye  I  There  have  been  few  such  ardent 
investigators  among  the  Old  World  Naturalists  until  of  late. 
Though  many  of  them  have  been  great  travellers,  and  have 
professed  to  examine  the  subjects  of  their  favorite  science, 
amidst  native  surroundings — yet  in  method  and  spirit  they  have 
been  entirely  unlike  the  American.  While  the  American,  in 
the  confidence  of  practice  and  self-reliance,  has  been  content 
to  trust  in  his  own  good  right  arm  for  provision  and  defence, 
they  have  been  sent  out  by  Royal  Institutes,  with  all  the  un- 
wieldy appointments  of  a  scientific  progress,  to  explore  the 
"sands  and  shores  and  desert  wildernesses."  While  he,  with 
habits  as  hardy  and  simple  as  those  of  the  wild  creatures 
themselves,  has  moved  among  them  without  their  being 
aware — has  plucked  the  same  berries,  drank  from  the  same 
spring,  and  rested  beneath  the  same  shades,  with  his  calm, 
bright  -  eye,  like  that  of  an  invisible  presence,  forever  upon 
their  unconscious  lives,  has  read  them  in  their  freedom 
like  an  unsealed  book — the  Europeans,  with  their  lumbering 
trains,  have"  brought  dismay  and  terror  into  the  startled  soli- 
tudes, and  at  best  have  obtained  nothing  but  unsatisfactory 
glimpses  of  retreating  forms,  or  the  clumsily  slain  "  speci- 


32  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

mens."  While  he,  with  the  experience  of  a  boyhood  and 
manhood  spent  in  hunting  and  among  hunters,  can  subject 
the  wild  legends  and  the  vague  tales  he  may  hear  to  a  sure 
test  within  himself,  and  skilfully  sift  them  of  whatever  truth 
they  may  contain,  for  his  own  use — the  Europeans,  whose 
years  have  been  spent  amidst  the  musty  folios  of  a  library, 
or  the  faded  specimens  of  museums,  must  take  whatever  they 
may  hear  for  granted — since  it  would  puzzle  a  quizzing 
"native"  to  romance  more  sillily  than  the  venerated  dullards 
of  those  folios,  and  it  would  equally  puzzle  their  astuteness 
to  recognize  the  living  animals  when  they  had  only  seen  the 
dried  skins  thereof!  The  consequence  has  been,  that  the 
efforts  of  Europeans  in  Ornithology  and  Mammalogy  have 
been  comparatively  "lame  and  impotent  conclusions,"  espe- 
cially when  they  have  undertaken  to  delineate  American  birds 
and  animals.  As  laborious  systematizers  and  technicalists, 
they  of  course  have  preceded  and  far  surpassed  us.  We  will 
not  dispute  the  husks  of  honor  with  them — but  must  insist 
that  as  to  all  wherein  consists  the  proper  vitality  and  purpose 
of  such  themes,  our  own — the  American — treatment  has  been 
the  most  original,  vigorous  and  true. 

To  such  causes  as  we  have  traced,  the  fact  is  owing  that  in 
European  treatment,  the  subject  of  Natural  History  has  been 
technicalised  into  what  may  be  almost  called  a  perfect  whalebone 
state  of  sapless  system.  The  subject,  of  all  others  possessing 
the  greatest  amount  of  inherent  vitality,  it  has  been  so  heavily 
overlaid  by  the  dry  bones  of  the  Linnrean  nomenclature  as  to 
have  become  a  veritable  Golgotha  of  Science.  Among  us  the 
people,  with  whom  it  is  necessarily  a  favorite  theme,  are 
repulsed,  in  dismay  of  its  formidable  hieroglyphics,  from  what 
is  to  them  as  a  scaled  book.  Thrown  back  upon  individual 
resources  solely,  they  become  as  we  have  seen,  of  necessity, 
close  observers,  and  so  far  as  opportunity  goes,  much  better 
naturalists  than  your  pur-blind  Professors  of  the  Science,  who 
tree  only  a  learned  name  in  its  proper  "  class"  and  "  order," 


BIRD,   BEAST  AND   HUNTER.  33 

not  a  living  creature  on  the  green  earth  and  under  the  sun, 
and  therefore  it  has  been  that  only  such  heathful  and  hardy 
treatment  as  our  naturalists  have  given  to  Natural  History, 
has  found  favor  among  us.  Our  glorious  Audubon,  -who  is 
just  now  dead,  lived  and  wrote  like  one  of  the  people,  and 
therefore  we  love  and  venerate  him  passed  away.  The  people 
everywhere  will  have  the  familiar  objects  and  subjects  of 
their  every-day  life  treated  in  a  familiar  way,  and  all  the 
stilted  terminology  of  an  over-done  wisdom  is,  and  must  con- 
tinue to  be,  gibberish  to  them.  One  such  fanciful  and  eloquent 
romancer  as  Buffon,  will  continue  through  all  time  more  dear  to 
the  popular  heart  in  the  Old  World,  than  fifty  rude  stolid  com- 
pilers as  Gesner  or  Pennant,  or  even  than  the  venerated 
Linngeus  himself;  and  Goldsmith,  too,  has  made  "A  Fairy 
Tale"  (as  Sam  Johnson  called  it,)  of  Natural  History,  that 
must  live  as  a  substantial  reality  in  the  memories  of  mankind 
more  enduring  than  the  heavy  monuments  of  learning. 

It  is  therefore  entirely  from  the  stand-point  of  the  Hunter 
Naturalist, — the  indigenous  growth  of  our  New  World, — that  I 
propose  to  regard  the  Romance  of  Sporting,  and  the  relations 
of  Bird,  Beast  and  Hunter. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    BOY-HUNTEK. 

I  MUST  surely  have  been  intended  for  a  hunter,  as  the  first 
thing  I  can  remember  was  an  animal. 

I  have  often  tried  to  trace  as  far  back  as  possible  into  the 
days  of  my  childhood,  the  period  when  consciousness  first 
became  linked  with  external  things ; — or,  in  other  words, — 
my  memory  of  life  began.  Curiously  enough,  I  have  never 
been  able  to  get  farther  back  than  to  a  time  when  I  was  kick- 
ing and  screaming  in  my  nurse's  arms,  in  cxtacied  and  uncon- 
trollable eagerness  to  get  my  hands  upon  a  beautiful  little 
white  rabbit  which  had  been  sent  home  by  my  father  in  a 
basket. 

34 


THE    BOY-HUNTER.  35 

The  picture  of  that  snowy  creature,  with  its  "pink  eyne," 
and  long  ears  laid  back,  couched  and  trembling  amidst  the 
tow  on  which  it  had  been  placed,  in  its  rough  wicker  cage,  is 
to  this  hour  as  distinct  as  a  scene  of  yesterday.  It  was  the 
sweet  surprise  of  that  soft  vision  that  startled  my  new  life 
into  full  awakening.  I  have  no  memory  of  the  dull  dawn 
before ;  it  is  here  my  actual  being  commenced. 

They  tell  me  I  had  already  vegetated  a  few  months,  but  it 
must  have  been  as  a  sprawling  negation,  dim-eyed  and  dream- 
less, clutching  feebly  the  untenanted  air;  for  now  was  my 
first  amazed  recognition  of  separate  being ;  now  was  that 
vague  Infinite  first  made  palpable  to  me  through  sense  in 
form. 

Ah !  the  miracle  of  that  mysterious  outer  world,  where 
such  shapes  of  wondrous  beauty  grew !  I  now  felt  the  sun- 
shine, and  saw  all  things  glitter.  How  strange  and  vivid 
'familiar  things  around  me  seemed ;  the  rough  fence,  the  old 
trees  and  house  wore  golden  halos  on  them  ;  the  green  earth 
was  glorified  in  splendors  that  entered  to  possess  me  in  warm 
thrills ;  and  a  creeping  joy,  mingled  of  I  know  not  what 
delicious  pains,  glowed  through  my  life,  until  it  swooned  in 
love  !  Ah,  the  ecstatic  influx  of  that  sensuous  birth !  would  it 
might  hold  my  heart  to  nature  in  that  sacred  glow  forever ! 

There  is  a  philosophy  which  takes  man  for  the  highest  and 
purest  exhibition  of  the  divisible,  for  that  type  of  being  in 
which  all  organism  is  perfected ;  it  recognizes  him  also  as 
linking  this  being  with  the  indivisible,  as  the  penultimate  of 
forms — a  part  of  heaven  and  a  part  of  earth. 

This  being  accepted,  his  relations  towards  inferior  creatures 
become  beautifully  dignified,  and  constitute  a  sort  of  arch- 
archangelship  under  the  sun,  drawn  by  the  common  ties  of 
common  sympathy  towards  all  things  that  breathe  and  move, 
yet  holding  an  awful  throne  by  right  of  its  spiritual  lineage. 
Then  doth  he  become,  to  their  material  nature,  a  "  God  made 
visible," — the  palpable,  immediate  expression  of  that  mystery 


36  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

and  power  which  arc  the  elements  of  all  supreme  rule,  whether 
it  be  human  or  divine. 

These  earth-mated  creatures  are  his  subjects ;  and  here,  at 
least,  his  lust  of  despotism  can  be  gratified,  for  he  is  ruler 
and  lord  above  them  all,  for  evil  as  well  as  for  good.  When 
it  is  for  evil,  how  terrible  he  must  be  to  them  with  his  dread 
engines  and  his  fierce  subtlety  !  When  for  good,  what  moving 
of  strange  thoughts,  what  yearnings  for  a  better  and  gentler 
being  must  visit  them !  Was  it  not  so,  even  with  ourselves, 
when  there  were  giants  in  those  days,  and  angels  sought  the 
daughters  of  Adam  on  our  earth  ? 

If  creation  be  an  unresting  tendency,  eternally  ascending 
towards  the  perfect,  then  is  our  supposition  less  a  fancy  than 
a  truth,  and  our  dominion  over  the  beast  of  the  earth  and 
the  fowl  of  the  air  becomes  a  heritage  of  fearful  responsi- 
bilities, embracing  wide  extremes  of  pleasure  and  of  pain. 
Duties,  then,  of  startling  significancy,  open  to  us,  and  we 
feel  the  presence  of  self-derived  majesty  expand  throughout 
our  principality,  and  in  beneficence  above  immortal  subjects. 
We  are  no  longer  their  tyrants,  but  right  royal  masters. 
We  know  them  not  as  the  insensate  objects  of  a  rude  caprice, 
dumb  foot-balls  to  our  blind  and  heady  passions,  to  be  chased 
and  torn  and  worried  in  our  savage  glee, — but  as  the  crea- 
tures of  our  dedicated  love,  to  be  guarded  gently,  nurtured 
well,  and  led  by  easy  ways  up,  through  serener  airs,  to  happier 
fields. 

This  is  the  Apocalyptic  Vision  of  an  elder  race — man,  THE 
ASCENDER,  beckoning  the  flocks  and  herds,  the  live  ocean- 
tide  of  his  inheritance,  up  the  steep  ;  the  calm  radiance  of  his 
merciful  brow  drawing  its  flood  towards  the  stars !  It  is  a 
healthful  philosophy,  full  of  noble  teachings,  and  we  should 
hold  it  to  our  hearts,  though  the  reality  of  such  a  vision 
may  be  so  remote — though,  alas  !  fallen  ourselves,  we  have 
cursed  them. 

It  is  sad  enough  that   all   these    creatures   have    scented 


THE   BOT-HUXTEPv.  37 

murder  on  our  red  right  hands,  and  fly  from  our  darkened 
brows, — that  the  archangel  of  our  birth  has  been  dethroned, 
and  that  shining  Presence,  once  upturned  over  them  in 
blessings,  as  a  God,  become  terrible  in  wrath !  Yet  are  we 
monarchs  still,  and  yearn  towards  our  ancient  subjects,  though 
it  be  in  empty  mockery  of  state.  In  our  domesticated  crea- 
tures we  call  them  around  us  once  again  to  feed  from  our 
hands,  though  they  be  rather  as  the  captives  of  our  will,  the 
slaves  of  our  necessities,  than  as  loyal  subjects  in  the  bonds 
of  love. 

What  wonder  that  the  man  seeks  savage  compensation  for 
the  loss  of  empire  ?  What  wonder  if,  in  the  shadow  where 
he  walketh  now,  those  mighty  memories  turn  his  heart  to  gall, 
when  he  looketh  out  upon  his  subjects,  shining  sleek,  in  beauty 
and  in  strength,  amidst  their  sun-lit  plains ;  and  they  regard 
not  his  voice,  lifted  up  as  of  old,  to  call  them  to  his  feet  ? 
Is  it  strange  that,  in  the  bitterness  of  quickened  wrath, 
his  fierce  pride  turn  upon  them,  glorying  in  the  strife  of 
will  with  will,  and  strength  with  strength,  to  overtake  them 
in  their  vaulting  freedom,  and  grimly  laugh  amidst  their 
slaughter  ? 

Yet  are  they  co-mates  and  sharers  of  the  sun  with  us,  and 
dark,  unnatural  passions  cannot  always  shut  them  out  from 
the  full  circle  of  our  sympathies.  Childhood  has  yet  a  birth- 
right of  innocent  illusion ;  and  while  its  ethereal  haze  lingereth 
over  all  things  in  enchantment,  we  may  at  least  believe  and 
love ! 

We  become  curst  and  harsh  with  dwelling  forever  amidst 
false  hopes  and  care-Avcighed  aspirations,  and  therefore  is  it 
sad,  indeed,  when  we  outgrow  that  charming  Faith  of  innocence, 
since  by  it  do  we  hold  eternal  youth.  In  its  deathless  happi- 
ness it  takes  us  forth  into  this  marvellous  outer  world  to  grow 
strong  again  in  wondering,  to  freshen  on  the  loveliness,  and 
grow  mirthful  with  its  gay  and  careless  lives.  Here  are  beings 
infinitely  numerous,  Ayho  breathe  and  move  by  the  same  laws 


38  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

with  ourselves,  and  yet,  who  in  their  apparelling  their  modes 
and  humors,  answer  mere  nature;  and  just  as  we  love  the 
matron-smiling  .front  of  her  eternal  freshness,  must  we  love 
these,  and  continue  to  shed  upon  them  out  of  our  hearts,  a 
wide  beneficence. 

How  can  we  fail  to  love  a  keen-eyed  wild-bird,  coming 
from  the  solitude,  burnished  and  many-hued,  as  if  the  air, 
where  its  surpassing  beauty  grew,  held  stores  of  gold,  of 
amethyst  and  glittering  gems  within  its  depths,  and  had 
sifted  them  in  gradual  splendors  down  upon  the  plumy  thing 
that  sat  within  its  stillness  !  "What  a  pleasant  mystery  its 
gay,  eccentric  being  is  !  How  we  delight  to  watch  its  tame- 
less heart  pulsing  through  every  gesture,  and  to  wonder  what 
it  thinks  and  feels,  and  how  its  moods  go  ! 

Who  has  not  noted  the  joyful  amazement  lighting  up  an 
infant's  eye  when  you  hold  a  bird  before  it,  or  a  sleek-furred 
squirrel  just  from  its  leaf-cradle.  How  it  screams  with  the 
novel  joy  as  its  shrinking  fingers  feel  the  strange,  soft  touch. 
Its  first  impulse — the  royal  patron  roused  already ! — is  to 
fondle  and  caress  the  little  prisoner,  and,  though  the  chubby, 
awkward  fist  of  the  young  Hercules  may  strangle  his  deli- 
cate vassal  at  the  first  grasp,  yet  is  it  not  from  cruelty,  but 
from  the  eagerness  of  the  new  delight. 

All  children  are  enthusiastic  naturalists  so  long  as  the 
happy  time  of  innocent  free  impulse  lasts,  and  well  do  I 
remember  all  that  mellow  time  with  me  !  Then  was  my  faith 
in  the  beautiful  most  mighty ;  then  gave  it  a  charmed  life  to 
me ;  then  was  it  my  dintless  shield, — the  Sigil  of  my  necro- 
mance  ; — by  it  did  I  "  strange  deeds  upon  the  clouds,"  and 
fairy  fantasies  of  earth,  and  air,  and  sea,  came  in  my  dreams 
obedient  to  its  spell ; — it  made  to  me  a  world  of  God's  free 
nature,  wherein  its  creatures  wore  his  glories  for  a  garment,  the 
light  of  his  own  eternity  in  their  clear  eyes,  and  syllabled  in 
most  sweet  voices  the  language  of  his  own  harmonious  tongue  ! 
I  knew  these  for  my  twin-born  brothers,  for,  with  the  com- 


THE   BOT-HUNTEK.  39 

mon  forms  about  me,  I  grew  weary:  they  did  not  fill  my 
longings  for — I  knew  not  what !— but  when  the  wild-bird, 
gleaming  past,  told  me  of  the  beautiful,  the  vivid,  and  the 
free,  I  no  longer  tarried  with  dull  sense !  I  wore  no  wings, 
but  yet  I  followed  it,  beating  the  air  with  visionary  plumes, 
to  fling  the  sunshine  off;  mine  were  no  mellow  pipes,  but  yet 
I  felt  a  carol  in  the  blossoming  tree,  and  sung  by  shady 
streamlets  a  low,  rippling  trill — wild  among  flowers  and  vines, 
darting  through  shadows  in  tameless  shine,  I  went,  with  the 
swift  thing,  in  riot  through  our  joy !  Ah,  it  filled  me  with 
the  freshness  of  untamable  delight,  and  set  my  spirit  free  on 
its  gem-dusted  wings ! 

As  for  that  young  squirrel,  out  from  deep  woods  where 
some  old  oak  had  nursed  it,  rocking  the  soft  sprite  in  his 
rigid  arms,  it  won  my  very  soul,  with  its  dark  glistening  eyes 
and  feathery  brush !  I  felt  the  frosty  patriarch  of  shades  em- 
brace it  gently  and  warm  within  his  knotted  bosom,  when  the 
battle-wind  of  winter  had  come  forth ;  and  saw  its  airy  bound- 
ings  lend  a  frolic  grace  to  his  grey  poll,  when  gay  spring 
breezes  wooed  him.  Enchanted  now,  and  eager  of  sweet 
mysteries,  I  entered  where  its  leafy  bed  was  rolled,  and  where 
the  garnered  stores  lay  fragrant  in  dim  chambers  of  that 
oaken  heart. 

And  then  I  smiled  in  dreaming,  for  I  saw  it  here  with 
strange  surroundings !  It  had  troops  of  little  friends,  the 
leaf-winged  elves,  that  came  into  its  chambers  when  the  moon 
went  down,  and  were  all  a-shiver  with  the  cold,  raw  morning ; 
and  with  puffy  cheeks,  straining  at  the  load,  they  brought  it 
round,  fat  nuts,  an  armful  each,  and  threw  them  on  the  little 
heaps  within  its  garner  ; — some,  rare  acorns,  too,  and  some, 
triangled  beech-nuts,  or  purple  wild  grape,  or  a  bursting  bud 
— this  was  for  love  and — breakfast !  Then  they  would  creep 
in  bed  with  folded  wings,  and  I  could  plainly  see  them  pulling 
its  soft  brush  aside  to  get  beneath  the  cover,  and  it  would  stir 
a  bit  as  if  in  vision  it  saw  the  dainties  they  had  brought,  and 


40  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 


snuff  drowsily  at  the  perfume.  Now  they  all  lay  so  warm 
and  cozey,  rolled  delicately  snug  in  that  furry  ball — and  when 
daylight  came  and  it  went  forth  to  play,  they  would  keep  the 
bed  warm  for  it  through  the  glaring  time  of  sunshine  ! 

There's  no  use  saying  I  could  not,  for  I  could  see  those 
little  fellows  just  as  plain  as  the  squirrel  itself ; — and  when 
night  came.,  I  could  see  them,  too,  at  their  airy  antics,  plainly 
against  the  moon  as  it  rose  up,  and,  at  playing  bo-peep,  I 
have  caught  them  kissing  the  sleeping  flowers,  sure  enough ! 

They  used  to  fight  with  the  old  owls,  too,  and  thrust  sharp 
spear  grass  in  their  moony  eyes,  that  would  stare  murder  at 
gay,  heedless  chip  munck,  or  pretty  little  panting  wood-mouse 
pattering  on  the  withered  leaves  below !  Indeed,  I  saw  them 
often  gathering  from  afar  in  arms — troop  after  troop,  in  snail- 
shell  helms,  to  drive  such  monsters  bodily  away  when  they 
had  ventured  near  that  squirrel's  house;  and  then,  the.  battle 


THE   BOY-HUNTER.  41 

over,  they  would  throw  aside  their  arms,  and  take  .ZEolian 
instruments  they  frame,  and,  with  stealthy  footing  round  the 
oriole's  hanging  nest,  make  creeping  music,  steal  into  her 
happy  dreams,  until  she  twitters  in  her  sleep,  of  the  dim 
sweetness,  fitfully ! 

All  this  I  saw  with  that  young  squirrel ! — aye,  and  much 
more,  too !  I  have  not  told  you  yet  about  its  friends  that 
live  in  the  cold  shade  of  little  mossy  grottos  down  the  deep 
glen,  where  it  must  go  to  drink !  They  are  grotesque  little 
fellows,  with  fin-like  wings,  and  you  might  any  time  see 
squirrels  play  with  them — whether  you  could  see  them  or 
not — jumping  from  rock  to  rock,  darting  under  dark  old 
mossy  roots,  to  hide  in  gurgling  water  underneath ;  diving  in 
still  pools,  where  it  will  fear  to  follow,  or  shooting  a  swift 
rapid  to  some  island  pebble  in  the  midst,  where  master  bushy- 
tail,  with  all  his  long  bounds,  cannot  reach ! — if  I  should  go 
on  to  tell  you  of  all  these  doings,  and  of  ever  so  much  more, 
you  would  know  him  just  as  well  as  I  did ;  but  I  don't  tell 
every  thing ! — we  had  our  secrets  between  us,  and  I  am 
bound  over  about  some  of  the  daintiest  of  them ! 

Whether  you  believe  all  this  or  not,  its  just  the  saoie  to  me, 
for  I  did,  and  that  even  before  I  was  big  enough  to  go  into  the 
woods  alone  to  see  for  myself!  When  I  did  go,  I  found  it 
was  all  the  same,  except  that  I  couldn't  see  the  little  friends 
very  plain,  though  I  could  see  squirrel  plain  enough  ! 

Then,  when  I  went  out  by  myself  into  the  deep  wood,  I  sat 
down  on  the  moss  at  the  root  of  an  old  tree,  to  watch  for 
him.  When  every  thing  was  still  again,  I  would  see  him 
after  awhile  poking  his  nose  slily  out  of  the  hole,  snuff!  snuff! 
Then  out  his  head  would  pop  to  rest  his  chin  upon  his  fore- 
paws,  and  he  would  look  all  around,  above  and  below,  very 
cunning,  to  see  if  it  was  all  right.  Then  out,  like  a  thought, 
he  would  glide,  and  I  could  see  his  lovely  brush  quickly 
curled  and  spread  all  so  grand  above  his  head  as  he  sat  upon 
a  limb,  still,  for  the  moment.  Lo  !  there  is  another  snuffing 


42  WILD    SCENES    AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

nose,  and  then  great  shining  eyes  filling  the  round  black  knot- 
hole, and  out  another  pops — and  then  another  and  another — 
three  of  them — his  brother  and  sisters  ! 

Hark  ! — listen, — qua  !  qua  !  quagh  !  That  is  another  one 
over  on  another  tree  !  He  answers  it,  and  then  such  a  time  ! 
such  whisking  of  tails,  darting  along  limbs  and  bounding 
from  swinging  twig  to  rustling  tree-tops,  until  they  all  meet, 
— two  families  of  them ! 

Now  the  frolic  begins  in  earnest,  and  round  and  round  the 
rough  trunks,  rattling  the  bark  down  as  they  chase  each 
other !  Their  tails  are  spread  now  as  wide  as  they  can,  as 
if  they  were  badly  scared,  and  that  young  lady  he  •  makes 
love  to,  you  may  be  sure,  for  now  he  has  chased  her  out 
to  the  very  end  of  a  great  high  limb,  and  hard  pushed,  here 
she  comes  right  off  into  the  air ! — down  almost  into  my  face 
— the  white  of  her  arms  underneath,  spread  wide  like  her 
stiffened  tail ! — into  the  leaves  head  foremost,  and  then  up 
and  away,  patter !  patter !  patter !  Here  he  comes,  too, 
sailing  down  after  her,  plump  !  and  rattles  off  along  the  old 
logs  and  swinging  vines  in  hot  chase ! 

So  they  all  would  frolic,  chasing  one  another,  and  one  would 
see  me,  and  stop  and  stamp  his  tiny  feet  and  bark  hoarsely 
at  me,  jerking  his  tail  in  comic  wrath.  Sometimes  another 
would  dart  away  suddenly,  as  if  possessed,  scurrying  round 
and  round  the  tree  after  nothing ;  and  then  I  knew  well 
enough  that  it  was  not  its  tail  that  it  was  chasing,  but  one  of 
its  little  airy  friends,  only  it  was  of  too  transpraent  sub- 
stance for  me  to  see  it  by  the  day-light. 

Nor  were  these  all  the  sights  I  saw  out  there  in  those 
quaintly  peopled  woods.  There  was  saucy  chip-munck,  with 
black  and  white  stripes  down  his  brown  back ;  he  was  a  spry 
fellow,  too,  upon  the  ground,  and  lived  in  the  prettiest  house 
under  an  old  stump.  lie  would  show  his  striped  nose  push- 
ing through  the  long  moss  hanging  over  his  little  hole  under 
the  decaying  root.  How  bright  his  soft,  vivid  eyes,  and  how 


THE   BOY-HUNTER. 


43 


nis  long  black  whiskers  tremble  as  he  pricks  his  short  ears  to 
listen !  Then,  quick  as  lightning,  he  mounts  the  stump, 
frisking  his  pert  tail  at  a  great  rate ;  you  c.in  see  his  little-- 
white bosom  beating  fast,  like  a  toy  watch  in  a  flurry,  as  ho 
glances  sharply  round ;  then  away  he  darts,  pit-a-pat !  leap- 
ing on  another  stump  to  look  again ;  now  he  is  satisfied  the 
coast  is  clear,  and  with  a  soft  chirping  squeak  dives  down 
into  the  leaves,  scratching  them  aside  and  pushing  under 
them  his  inquisitive  nose.  Ha  !  another  soft  chirp,  and  ho 
darts  back  upon  the  stump  again,  and  you  can  see  his  small 
cheeks  are  all  puffed  out.  In  a  moment  one  of  the  acorns  he- 
has  found  is  in  his  paws,  and  sitting  up  straight  as  a  little 
goblin  man,  you  can  soon  hear  his  sharp  teeth  creak  !  creak  I 
against  the  hull. 

He,  too,  has  friends   that  live  with  him  ;  that  are  kin  to 


44 


WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 


the  gnomes ;  they  are  a  very  funny  sort  of  people.  They 
cannot  see  at  all  after  day,  and  they  are  so  fond  of  their 
antics,  that  sometimes  light  overtakes  them,  and  then  they 
have  to  crawl  under  shelter  of  the  first  stone  they  can  find, 
until  night  comes  again.  Whenever  you  happen  to  turn  over 
the  stone  and  see  a  blind,  sluggish  creature  under  it,  looking 
like  a  brick-dusted  lizard,  don't  hurt  the  wee,  helpless  thing, 
for  when  dark  comes  it  will  dart  about  and  sparkle  in  the 
most  beautiful  manner,  like  a  living  carbuncle,  among  the 
strange  night-flowering  fungi  that  droop  like  it  in  the  morn- 
ing. You  often  see  them  at  play,  and  if  you  do  not  notice, 
will  think  they  are  nothing  but  fire-flies. 

There  were  many  more  creatures  that  these  gnome-people 
loved  very  well,  and  which  lived  under  the  earth,  too.  They 
lighted  the  long  galleries  of  the  tiny  shrews,  and  when  the 


THE   BOYrHUNTER.  45 

Star-nozed  moles  held  their  root  festivals  in  domed  chambers, 
they  were  there  to  blaze  amidst  the  velvet-coated  throng, 
right  merrily  at  midnight.  And  the  soft  mice  !  they  had  some 
games  with  them,  too,  and  loved  mightily  their  warm  round 
nests  beneath  the  stubble,  or  in  leafy  hollows  of  dead  trees. 
As  for  the  gaunt  and  bloody  weasels,  they  fright  them  with 
a  sudden  glare  in  those  dark  passages  where  they  dig,  nosing 
for  murder ;  and  blind,  too,  the  sullen  mink  with  splendor  in 
his  earthy  prowls ! 

So  at  first  I  went  forth  among  the  creatures  of  earth,  in 
peace,  and  saw  them  in  my  simple  faith ;  and  all  my  plea- 
santest  memories  of  calm,  unmixed  delight,  are  associated 
with  that  time  of  innocent  wonder  and  loving  familiarity  with 
these  fresh  articulations  of  God's  thought  in  forms. 

But  as  my  passions  grew,  this  harmless  wonder  changed 
into  curiosity,  that  became  insatiable  for  a  more  intimate 
knowledge.  I  yearned  to  know  them  better,  to  see  them 
more  closely,  to  feel  them,  to  possess !  I  became  jealous  of 
that  graceful  freedom  I  had  at  first  admired  so  much,  because 
it  took  them  away  from  me  just  when  my  heart  was  overflow- 
ing towards  them ;  I  reached  forth  my  arms  to  clasp  them  to 
my  bosom,  the  empty  air  I  folded  chilled  me  at  first,  and  then 
anger  rose.  The  pride  of  a  despotic  will,  the  rights  of  the 
natural  lord,  were  wounded  from  the  tender  side,  and  thus 
became  aroused  to  an  embittered  consciousness  of  strength, 
and  a  willful  purpose  to  use  it  against  my  gentle  playfellows. 

It  was  not  that  I  grew  cruel  suddenly,  and  sought  them 
with  the  dark  curse  of  Cain  in  my  heart,  at  once;  but  that 
I  was  impatient  of  this  liberty  that  could  take  them  from  mo 
when  they  willed,  and  desired  to  restrain  them  to  come  to  me 
when  I  willed. 

I  had  no  thought  of  murder  at  first,  when  I  learned  to  en- 
snare them.  It  would  have  broken  my  heart  then  to  have 
slain  one  ;  and  so  full  was  I  of  love  for  them,  that  I  could  not 
fully  realize  how  much  they  suffered  in  being  deprived  of 


46  WILD   SCENES  AND  WILD  HUNTERS. 

freedom.  Though  they  did  struggle  desperately,  and  cry 
aloud  in  fear  and  sorrow,  I  comforted  myself  in  thinking  that 
it  was  because  they  did  not  understand  what  I  desired ;  that, 
when  they  came  to  know  of  the  good  I  intended,  what  a  nice 
little  house  I  should  build  for  them,  what  delicate  food  I 
would  bring,  and  above  all,  how  dearly  I  should  love  them, 
that  then  they  would  learn  to  love  me,  and  become  reconciled 
to  everything,  and  happy  as  I  was  in  having  them. 

So,  in  my  simplicity,  I  tried  to  believe,  until  the  whol\3 
thing  became  as'  real  as  if  it  were  true  ;  and  the  sunny  attic,  I 
proudly  called  my  room,  soon  became  a  sort  of  caravansary, 
filled  with  these  captive  travellers  of  air  and  earth.  What  a 
happiness  it  was  to  me  to  familiarize  each  new  prisoner  with 
my  presence,  and  sit  and  watch  in  low-breathed  quiet  all  their 
ways,  as  I  used  to  in  the  woods,  and  laugh  out  suddenly, 
until  the  old  house  rang,  at  some  odd  whimsicality  of  passion- 
ate gesture.  How  I  loved  to  have  them  on  my  person,  to 
caress  me,  to  feed  from  my  hands  and  mouth,  to  peck  at  me 
in  feigned  wrath,  or  seize  my  hands  with  harmless  teeth  in 
fierce  dissembled  savagery.  Aye,  I  was  lordly  proud  then, — 
even  happy  as  a  king. 

When  the  snow  came,  too,  what  a  joyful  time  that  was  to 
be, — for  now  I  was  to  capture  many  more  lovely  friends. 

When  the  grey  heavy  cloud  gathered  over  night,  and  a 
few  broad  flakes  came  scattering  slowly  down  through  the 
twilight,  then  I  knew  there  would  be  a  heavy  snow  in  the 
morning.  What  a  restless,  fidgety  fever  I  was  in  !  I  went 
to  bed  early  that  night,  that  I  might  get  up  early,  and  mean- 
while sleep  away  the  suspense. 

I  forgot  to  say  my  prayers — for  I  did  say  them  nightly  in 
those  sinless  times — and  lay  tossed  in  restless  visions  of  traps, 
and  snares,  and  dead-falls ;  of  monstrous  hares,  as  big  as  my 
dog  Milo,  swung  up  by  the  neck  at  the  end  of  a  pole ;  of 
great  flocks  of  quails,  with  strange  beautiful  birds  among 
them,  fluttering  and  peering  their  heads  through  the  sticks 


THE   BOT-HUNTEK.  47 

of  my  traps ;  of  white  foxes  and  black  foxes,  or  of  a  great 
opossum,  lying  with  crushed  heads  beneath  my  dead-falls ;  or 
of  tracking  some  creature  that  left  the  foot-mark  of  an  ele- 
phant on  the  fresh  snow  for  miles  and  miles  through  the  bowed 
and  foreign-looking  woods,  until  I  had  tree'd  it  at  last ;  when, 
after  toiling  and  tugging,  with  sweaty  brows,  I  had  drawn  it 
forth  from  the  hollow,  and  held  it  in  my  hand,  I  saw,  without 
the  least  surprise,  that  it  was  a  soft  little  wood-mouse  !  Ah ! 
delicious  fantasies  were  they  ! 

When  at  cock-crow  I  bounded  out  of  bed  and  ran  to  the 
window,  the  first  thing — how  I  clapped  my  hands  and  danced 
for  joy,  and  waked  every  body  with  my  shoutings — "  The 
snow  !  the  snow  !  a  deep  snow  !" 

Then  what  a  fussing  time  ! — making  new  traps,  stealing 
clap-boards,  and  every  other  kind  of  boards  that  were  avail- 
able, to  be  split  into  trap  pieces  !  What  a  teasing  my  father  for 
triggers,  to  make  me  triggers  for  spring-falls,  nooses,  par- 
tridge traps,  traps  for  little  birds,  and  all !  HOAV  I  wondered 
I  could  not  get  the  old  gentleman  to  understand  that  I  should 
be  ruined  !  dead-ruined  !  if  I  did  not  get  my  traps  ready  to 
be  set  early — even  by  breakfast-time — for  the  other  boys 
would  be  setting  their's,  too,  and  take  all  the  best  places. 

Little  did  I  care  for  the  hot  coffee  and  cakes  that  morning, 
but  snatching  a  sup  and  a  bite,  was  off,  whistling  for  Milo, 
and  shouting  for  Pomp  the  negro  boy,  to  accompany  and  help 
me.  Eagerly  did  we  discuss,  by  the  way,  as  we  lugged  our 
heavy  traps  through  the  deep  snow,  whether  the  sink-hole  in 
the  pasture,  the  thicket  in  the  corn-field  fence  row,  the  black- 
berry patch  in  the  corner,  or  on  the  edge  of  the  woods,  were 
the  surest  places  for  "Bob  Whites,"  (partridges),  or  "Molly 
Cotton-tails,"  (hares).  There  was  no  deciding  between  them, 
so,  to  settle  the  matter,  a  trap  was  set  at  each  place,  and  one 
in  addition  for  larks,  cloves,  red-birds,  and  sparrows,  by  the 
old  wheat-stack  behind  the  barn. 

Pompcy,  who  carried  the  spade,  dug  away  the  snow  from 


48  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

each  sagaciously  chosen  place,  and  exposed  the  black  earth 
beneath,  so  that  our  tempting  bait  might  show  from  afar. 
Then  was  the  trap  placed  over  it  on  the  bare  spot,  and  set 
with  such  careful  nicety !  Now  with  many  a  wistful  look 
behind  to  see  if  the  birds  were  not  at  it  already,  we  went  on 
to  set  the  next. 

When  this  first  and  most  important  business  was  got 
through  with,  then  came  hare  hunting  under  the  snow. 

Ah,  that  was  the  sport !  Molly  Cotton  would  sit  still 
wherever  the  storm  overtook  her,  and  when  the  snow  began 
to  cover  her  over,  she  would  keep  crowding,  and  pushing 
gently  back  and  forth,  pressing  it  to  one  side  until  she  had 
formed  a  roomy  little  chamber  all  about  her.  The  snow 
would  go  on  heaping  and  heaping  until  a  domed  arch  grew 
over  all  with  just  one  little  round  hole,  kept  open  through  its 
top  by  the  warm  air  of  her  breathing — and  there  she  would 
sit,  snug  as  a  Russian  Princess,  in  her  palace  of  ice,  and 
dreaming  of  luscious  cabbage  leaves  and  tender  apple-shoots 
in  the  neighboring  garden.  But  Molly's  golden  visions  were 
as  subject  to  be  rudely  dispelled  as  those  of  other  people ! 

See  !  Milo's  keen  nose  has  scented  one  of  those  very  breath- 
ing-holes on  the  smooth,  glistening  surface  of  the  snow — he 
has  stopped  suddenly  on  the  plunge,  with  his  foot  raised ! 
"  Steady  !  steady,  boy  !"  We  are  up  with  him  in  long  leaps  ! 
Now  for  it!  "  Hie  on,  boy!"  and  helter,  skelter,  here  we 
come  !  I,  Milo,  Pompey,  all  together,  tumbling  heels  over 
head  upon  the  snowy  roof  of  Mistress  Molly's  palace  !  There 
she  is — I  feel  the  soft,  warm  fur !  Squeak  !  quai !  quai ! 
quai ! — her  plaintive  cry  sings  out ;  we  have  her  !  "  Hold 
hard,  Pompcy;  she  kicks  so  with  her  strong  hind-logs  that 
she  will  surely  get  away  ! — Down,  you  Milo  ! — There  now  ! — • 
we  have  her  tied — she  is  secure  !" 

Every  hour  or  two  the  traps  near  at  hand  are  visited,  and 
those  at  a  distance  twice  a  day.  We  start  upon  our  round. 
From  afar  we  can  see  that  one  is  down  !  My  heart  jumps  ! 


THE   BOY-HUNTER. 


I  long  sorely  to  run ! — Pompey  starts  off,  I  call  him  back  ! 
It  is  necessary  I  should  be  dignified — should  prove  to  him 
and  all  the  world,  by  my  unhurried  calmness, — 


that  my  demerits 


May  speak  unbonneted  to  as  proud  a  fortune 
As  this  that  has  befallen." 

I  walk  slow  and  stately,  feeling  exalted  by  my  self-denial 
— speculating  after  what  manner  the  fates  are  about  to  reward 
me — thinking  of  a  whole  dozen  of  partridges,  a  splendid 
male  red-bird — or,  it  may  be,  a  large  fat  pheasant,  or  some 
entirely  new  and  wondrous  creature,  as  best  befitting  my 
just  claims. 

We  are  close  at  hand — we  can  seo  the  little  tenement 
shake — hear  the  heavy  beat  of  struggling  wings.  Too  much 
for  my  stoicism  is  that  sound  !  With  fluttering  pulse  I  spring 
eagerly  forward — bah  ! — it  is  nothing  but  a  common  thieving 

Ja7! 

I  almost  stagger  with  the  revulsion  of  my  soaring  aspira- 
tions— while  Pompey  proceeds  to  get  out  the  poor  bird  with 
sundry  abusive  epithets  and  gabbled  threats  of  neck- wringing. 
"  Yah  !  yah  !  ole  feller  ! — cotch  at  last !  Carry  sticks  to  de 
debbil,  to  make  fire,  burn  dis  child  wid,  will  you !  Da !  now 
you  carry  sticks  to  debbil !"  and  away  flutters  the  obnoxious 
jay's  headless  body  over  the  bloodied  snow. 

I  have  said  I  was  not  cruel,  and  it  was  a  perfect  agony  to 
me  to  witness  the  death  of  any  of  my  prisoners — but  the 
shock  of  the  fall  of  my  high-flown  hopes  was  too  much  for 
me,  arid  in  this  case  I  did  not  recover  in  time  to  save  the 
unlucky  victim  of  a  superstition  universal  among  our  negroes, 
and  to  which,  if  I  were  not  ashamed  of  the  confession,  I 
might  admit  having  been  more  than  half  inclined  myself ! 

But  this  was  not  all  our  sport  on  the  snow,  either  !  If  it 
grew  damp  towards  evening,  then  the  cold  night-winds  would 


50  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

freeze  its  untrampled  surface,  and,  by  the  time  morning  came 
again,  there  would  be  a  hard  crust  over  all — hard  enough  to 
bear  Molly  Cotton's  weight  at  any  rate. 

Now,  such  grand  chases  as  we  would  have  after  her  upon 
the  crust !  Milo's  nose  was  to  find  her  in  the  old  stubble-field, 
by  the  little  breathing-holes  through  the  top  of  her  palace 
under  the  snow ;  then  we  had  all  the  little  dogs  from  the 
Quarter,  who  were  not  much  heavier  than  she,  to  chase  her 
on  the  crust. 

Ah !  this  was  the  greatest  affair  of  all ! — greater  than 
catching  her  at  once  in  her  house,  for  here  we  gave  Molly  a 
fair  start,  and  could  see  the  whole  chase  to  the  end. 

Before  sunrise,  Pomp  had  assembled  from  the  quarter  the 
other  young  darkies,  Dick,  Sambo,  and  the  rest,  with  their 
cur-dogs,  fices,  terriers,  and  all  other  kinds  of  light  dogs, 
each  one  lead  by  a  tow-string  around  its  neck — for  it  would 
spoil  the  fun  and  interfere  with  Milo,  to  have  them  loose  until 
the  time  came.  Such  a  gabbling  and  a  yelping  as  they  made, 
the  darkies  and  their  dogs  between  them,  when  Milo  and  I 
came  running  out,  and  took  the  lead  through  the  deep  crack- 
ling snow  towards  the  great  field. 

Sometimes  the  snow  would  bear  us  for  a  moment,  and  then 
up  somebody's  heels  would  fly,  and  such  a  shrieking  and 
tumbling  about  with  the  laughter  as  there  would  be ;  then  the 
eager  mongrels,  when  they  saw  Milo  run  ahead  with  long  high 
plunges  through  the  snow,  would  yell  with  anger  at  being 
tied,  and  leap  against  their  tow-leashes,  or  darting  between 
the  holder's  legs,  would  trip  him  up,  and  break  away.  Then 
there  was  no  catching  the  little  wretch,  for  he  would  be  cun- 
ning enough  not  to  come  when  his  master  called,  just  to  be 
caught  again,  so  I  would  have  to  order  a  halt,  and  call  in  my 
obedient  Milo,  and  then  the  runaway  would  be  decoyed  in 
reach  of  some  one  who  would  snatch  the  trailing  tow-string, 
and  make  him  prisoner  once  mere. 


THE   BOY-HUNTER.  51 

So,  at  last,  with  all  our  stoppages  in  this  way,  and  in 
climbing  the  half-buried  fences,  where  the  negroes'  dogs  would 
be  sure  to  get  nearly  hung  to  death  in  jumping  through  the 
wrong  places,  we  would  come  to  the  old  stubble  just  about 
when  the  sunrise  scattered  the  'purple  dawning,  and  every- 
thing was  a-glitter  with  the  yellow  blaze.  We  veiled  our 
eyes  from  the  dazzle  with  our  coat-sleeves  and  caps  when  the 
white  glare  of  the  wide,  unbroken  surface  was  thrown  into 
our  faces. 

But  my  eyes  would  soon  bear  it  when  I  caught  a  glimpse 
of  Milo's  flying  ears  almost  disappearing  in  his  deep  plunges 
through  the  snow,  then  rising  again  with  his  high  leaps. 
He  knew  the  time  for  action  had  come  in  earnest,  and  the 
little  dogs,  straining  on  their  leashes,  would  whine  and  shift 
their  feet,  and  yelp  to  get  away,  while  they  watched  him, 
with  great  white  eyes,  almost  popping  out  of  their  heads  with 
their  choked  eagerness. 

We  all  stand  still,  in  breathless  watching,  as  he  covers  his 
ground  right  and  left,  scientifically,  as  if  there  were  no  snow 
to  hinder.  But  standing  still,  over  the  knees  in  the  snow,  is 
very  hard  for  boys,  and  I  begin  to  stamp  with  the  cold  and 
impatience,  and  rub  my  hands,  while  Pomp  and  his  darkies 
gradually  draw  their  breaths  and  commence  gabbling  away 
as  noisy  as  ever. 

"Yah!  yah!  Massa  Charles, — see  dat  Milo  jump!  He 
long  ear  down  dat  sink-hole  dar  look  jes  like  de  big  pheasant 
fly  'long  de  snow  !  He  hab  dat  molly-cotton  soon,  now  !" 

"  Keigh  !  hush  you  nigger,  dar !  d'  'aint  no  cotton  tail 
down  dat  briar-patch,  't  all !" 

"  Sambo,  what  you  know  ?  Milo  knows  more  'n  ten  sich 
nigger  !  He  find  him  !" 

"  There  !  he  stops  !  that's  a  point !" 

"Whoop!  yah!  yah!  told  you  nigger  !  dar  dat  cotton — !" 

"  Hush  your  noise  !  Steady  boy  !  steady  !  Silence  !     Hold 


52  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

on  to  your  dogs .  come  on  quietly  !  Steady,  boy  !  steady . 
steady!" 

Bursting  almost  with  impatience,  I  have  great  trouble  to 
hold  back  my  rabble,  for  we  must  get  close  before  Milo  13 
hied  on,  so  as  to  have  a  fair  run  of  it. 

"  Steady,  boy  !  steady  !  Hold  back  there  Dick,  you  ras- 
cal !  hold  the  dogs  !  Steady,  old  boy  !" 

I  can  see  the  point  of  his  tail  shaking,  and  his  ears  quiver 
with  restrained  excitement.  We  are  in  ten  steps,  now 
for  it ! 

"  Hie  on,  boy !"  One  long  bound — he  plunges  beneath 
the  snow  amidst  the  briars  ! — one  breathless  moment !  there 
she  is ! 

From  beneath  his  very  feet  she  bursts  through  the  pow- 
dered snow,  and  shaking  it  from  her  fur,  at  one  leap  she  is  clear 
upon  the  firm  crust,  and  after  slipping  up  once  or  twice,  makes 
steadily  off. 

Such  a  burst  of  yells,  yelps  and  screeches !  Such  a  jumble- 
together,  helter,  skelter,  heels-in-the-air  start  as  we  make  of 
it.  I,  little  dogs,  negroes  and  all !  such  falls,  and  such  trip- 
ping up  !  such  crackling  and  crashing  !  Now  the  little  dogs, 
that  have  at  first  slipped  up  and  rolled  over  each  other,  all 
in  a  yelling  heap,  gather  their  legs  together  and  stretch  away 
with  fierce  cries  after  poor  molly-cotton,  who  is  going  off  like 
a  bird,  with  her  black  shadow  on  the  snow. 

\Ve  are  wild,  frantic  with  the  excitement,  and  whoop  and 
screech  as  if  tearing  out  our  very  lungs,  as  we  follow,  throwing 
each  other  down  in  the  jostle,  and  leaving  soon  the  smallest 
ones  far  behind. 

"  They  are  closing  on  her !  she  slips  up !  Whoop ! 
hurrah  !" 

"  Golly  !  dat's  Snap  !  yah  !  yah  !  he  de  dog  !" 

"  You  Pomp,  dat's  my  Sanch !     0  you  nigger,   dat's  no 

Snap  !     Da,  now  !  he  got  her  !" 


THE   BOY-HUNTER.  53 

"  You  Sanch !  you  Snap !  get  out,  you  dogs !  get  out ! 
begone  !"  I  shriek,  but  it  is  too  late  now  to  SJ^e  poor  molly- 
cotton  from  being  torn. 

"  Hoo-ey !  dat  my  Snap !  yah !  yah !" 

"  You  nigger,  dat  Sanch,  fust !  Mass  Charles  dat  Sanch  ? 
yah!  yah!  dis  nigger's  dog !  Hoo-ray!  hoo-ray!" 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   NATURALIST   DEVELOPING. 

WHEN  the  crust  had  melted,  then  came  tracking  hares  on 
the  snow,  and  here  Pompey  and  I  Avere  better  than  Milo's 
nose — for  we  could  see  the  beautiful  little  triangles  Molly  left 
behind  with  her  feet  at  each  bound,  laid  as  plain  along  the 
snow  as  three  ink-marks  on  white  paper. 

Out  from  the  cabbage-patch  or  the  nursery  we  would  follow 
it,  winding  round  and  round,  through  the  fences  and  by  the 
briar-patch — across  the  fields  and  away  towards  the  wood  we 
would  trail,  bending  down  to  look  as  we  went,  and  keeping 
Milo  back  behind  us.  Now  the  edge  of  the  wood  is  reached, 
and  here  the  track  gets  all  mixed  up  with  others,  and  twisted 


THE   NATURALIST   DEVELOPING.  55 

back  upon  itself,  so  that  for  a  long  time  we  cannot  make  it 
out — but  Pompey  strikes  a  circuit  round  in  the  wood,  and 
after  awhile  he  shouts — 

"  Here  he  am,  Massa  Chas. !  Got  her  agin  ! — soon  find  dat 
hollow,  now !" 

Away  we  tramp  again — Pompey  as  eager  on  the  new  trail 
as  any  hound — crashing  through  hazel  thickets — falling  over 
buried  logs  and  grape  vines — to  he  up  and  scramble  on  again 
until — "  Ha  ! — that  great  old  oak  tree  !  That's  the  place — 
see,  the  tracks  go  right  into  the  hollow  at  its  root." 

"  We've  got  her !  we've  got  her !" 

Matches  were  not  known  in  those  days,  but  we  had  a  little 
steel  and  flint,  with  some  "punk"  between  us,  and  now  soon 
we  had  scraped  away  the  snow  to  get  at  the  dry  leaves,  and 
broken  off  all  the  dead  boughs  and  twigs  we  could  find  around 
for  a  heap — a  great  heap  at  the  mouth  of  the  hole. 

It  was  very  hard  to  keep  Milo's  nose  out,  for  snuff  and 
snuff  he  would  in  spite  of  us,  when  we  turned  our  backs. 
Now  the  punk  burns — the  .pile  is  fired,  and  then  we  throw  on 
damp  leaves  to  make  a  great  smoke  to  rise  up  the  hollow. 
Milo  stands  by,  looking  on  now  with  a  very  wise  expectation 
— but  Pompey  kneels  by  his  side,  and  holds  him  round  the 
neck  tight.  A  little  while  !  we  hear  snuff !  snuff !  and  scram- 
bling inside  the  hollow !  Now  she  comes  !  thump  !  sneeze  ! 
There  she  bursts  through  the  smoking  pile  stifling  and  help- 
less. I  seize  her  quickly. 

"  Down,  Milo  !  down  !  Hold  him,  Pomp  !"  as  I  wheel  round 
and  round  to  escape  him,  swinging  poor  Molly  above  my  head. 
Now  she  has  got  her  breath  again.  Quai !  quai !  quai !  How 
sad  her  wail  is !  But,  after  a  desperate  struggle,  Milo  is  beat 
off,  and  she  is  saved ! 

By  the  time  the  snow  was  gone,  my  attic  had  become  popu- 
lous enough ;  but  when  the  busy,  gay  and  glowing  spring  had 
come,  and  the  carolling  out  of  doors,  and  the  warm,  deepen- 
ing green,  and  the  faint  odors  of  the  youngest  flowers  came 


56  WILl)   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

stealing  on  the  air,  the  prisoners  there  grew  so  restless  and 
looked  so  out  of  place  in  their  bare  wooden  cages,  that  day 
by  day  compunctious  visitings  grew  upon  me,  until  one  after 
one,  with  many  a  yearning  sigh  as  I  looked  after  them,  all 
were  turned  loose  upon  the  sunny  earth  again.  I  would  be 
saddened  for  days  to  think  of  their  ingratitude,  for  no  one 
of  them  would  ever  come  back  to  me  again. 

Sorrows  could  not  last  long  in  those  days.  The  sap  run 
vigorously,  and  new  pleasures  soon  grew  over  the  old  scars. 
My  pets  were  all  gone,  but  with  the  same  spring  that  wooed 
their  freedom  came  nesting  time. 

Ah,  what  an  eye  I  had  for  localities  most  apt  to  be  selected 
by  my  wild  favorites  to  build  their  homes  in  then !  I  was 
seldom  taken  by  surprise  in  finding  any  nest.  I  could  almost 
tell  beforehand  the  very  fork,  thick  clustered  round  with  veil- 
ing leaves,  in  which  Master  Dandy  Jay  would  wisely  hide  his 
clumsy  house. 

I  knew  the  very  limb  out  near  the  end  of  which  the  Robin 
meant  to  build.  I  could  tell  the  very  stump  or  hollow  which 
yonder  twittering  pair  of  Blue  Birds  would  select — that  is, 
if  they  didn't  choose  a  hole  in  the  great  gate-posts  of  the 
meadow. 

The  blackberry  thicket  in  the  corner  of  the  "worm  fence" 
where  the  Brown  Thrasher  would  build  amidst  sharp  briars, 
I  knew  well  of  old ;  and  the  very  pear  tree  top,  or  swinging 
locust  in  the  yard,  from  which  the  Oriole,  with  black  and 
golden  coat,  would  hang  its  woven  cradle,  was  prophetically 
foreshadowed. 

I  knew  the  apple-tree  in  the  orchard,  too,  that  so'her-coated 
reverend  of  jollity,  the  Parson  Oriole,  would  be  sure. to  select 
to  preach  his  garrulous  sermons  of  glee  on,  while  his  tender 
mate  rocked  pendent,  listening  from  the  same  breezy  bough. 

I  could  tell  before  I  reached  yonder  dead  young  mulberry, 
whether  it  was  a  Tom-Tit's  populous  nursery  that  had  filled 
that  sap-sucker's  deserted  chamber,  or  whether  I  might  expect, 


THE  NATURALIST   DEVELOPING. 


vrhen  I  tapped  its  sounding  sides,  to  see  the  great  soft  black 
eyes  and  trembling  whiskers  of  the  velvety  Flying  Squirrel 
fill  the  round  little  hole  before  she  darted  out  to  sail  down  or, 
the  creamy  spread  of  her  furred  drapery ; — as  for  the  red- 
crested  Flicker  with  his  spotted  breast,  who  loved  this  kind 
of  house,  too,  I  knew  his  droll  ways  better  than  his  better- 
half  herself,  and  many  a  sunshiny  morning  have  I  sat  beneath 
and  mocked  his  noisy  laugh  and  hammering  rattle. 

I  knew  the  Screech  Owl  stood  to  blink  and  stare  on  sleepy 
watch  the  livelong  dav,  out  from  his  door  in  that  old  hollow 

O  «/    ' 

beech  that  held  his  little  family  of  horned  goblins  warm  within ; 
and  where  the  robber  Hawk  circled  on  moveless  wing  with 
plaintive  cries  at  noonday,  I  knew  his  savage  heart  was 
yearning  towards  that  huge  oak's  clustering  top  below — and 


58  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

if  eagle's  eyried  on  the  cliff,  I  told  it  when  I  saw  them  stealing 
quickly  in. 

It  was  no  mystery  to  me  where  the  shy  Flame  Bird  hid  its 
eggs — nor  could  the  artist  Hummer,  with  all  its  matchless 
skill,  deceive  me — for  the  moss-cloaked  bulb  that  seemed  so 
like  the  gradual  swelling  of  a  natural  knot  upon  the  twig, 
revealed  its  delicate  secret  to  my  sharpened  eye. 

The  cunning,  noisy  crow,  with  all  its  loud-mouthed  gam- 
mon, never  could  mislead  me,  and  even  the  subtle  mocking- 
bird had  to  give  in  to  my  untiring  watchfulness.  As  for  Bob 
White,  I  heard  him  daily  call  "wife-e  !  wife-e  !"  to  nest  in 
the  deep  clover ;  and  the  meek,  simple  dove,  I  patronized, 
especially,  and  visited  her  each  day,  to  watch,  lest  some  rude 
boy  or  prowling  cat  had  marked  the  low  and  exposed  nest 
where  the  silly  thing  had  placed  it  on  an  apple-tree  limb, 
right  across  the  orchard  path ;  and  respecting  the  wren, — • 
Miss  Kitty,  the  jade !  I  believe  she  would  have  built  in  my 
coat  sleeve,  had  I  given  her  half  a  chance  ! 

The  blue  martin  and  I  knew  each  other's  faces,  Spring  in, 
and  Autumn  out ;  for  many  a  friendly  and  familiar  gossip  did 
we  hold  together  from  my  attic  window,  that  overlooked  the 
little  painted  palace  on  a  pole  I  had  set  up  for  it  outside. 

Ah,  that  fatal  structure,  with  its  red  walls  of  painted  brick  ! 
its  mimic  turrets,  saw  my  first  foul  deed  of  wanton  murder ! 

These  purple  martins  I  most  dearly  loved,  because  they 
brought  me  from  the  farthest  south  the  first  news  of  Spring 
in  their  glad,  low  twitterings,  and  I  placed  this  gorgeous  house 
there  in  lofty  state  for  them  to  occupy  in  welcome  to  their 
weary  wings  ;  but  then,  the  little  warlike  blue  bird  would 
take  possession  first,  and  cruelly  buffet  the  tired  wanderer 
when  it  came  to  claim  its  own ;  then  my  blood  boiled  to  wit- 
ness the  inhospitable  deed,  for  the  blue  bird  was  no  stranger, 
and  lived  here  through  the  winter. 

I  plead  now  with  my  father  for  a  gun,  and  by  one  tremen- 
dous effort,  learned  to  say  my  multiplication  table  backwards, 


THE   NATURALIST   DEVELOPING.  59 

to  win  it  as  a  reward,  and  then  grasping  the  bright  new 
weapon,  in  truculent  rage,  slew,  with  my  first  shot,  the 
audacious  intruder,  as  it  fluttered  in  triumph  above  the  house 
it  had  usurped. 

What  a  strange  sensation  it  was  as  I  lifted  that  first 
gasping  victim  of  my  prowess,  and  saw  the  blood  upon  my 
hands. 

I  believe  that  blood,  warm,  dropping  blood,  maddens  our 
race,  and  makes  fiends  of  us, — for  any  devil  of  them  all  might 
have  envied  my  ferocious  exultation  !  It  was  my  first  taste 
of  blood,  shed  by  my  own  act,  and  the  red,  infernal  nectar 
fired  through  my  veins  the  raging  ecstacies  of  a  new  lust  that 
all  incarnadined  the  blue,  holy  sky,  and  dimmed,  angrily,  the 
green,  cheerful  earth  !  From  that  moment  the  fiercer  impulse 
of  the  hunter  was  aroused,  to  grow  apace  towards  its  stern 
joys ! 

The  tyrant  king  bird  knew  me  for  a  foe,  and  would  ruffle 
his  vermilion  crest  at  the  very  sight  of  me,  and  dip  at  my 
head  with  waspish,  querulous  twitterings,  for  now  there  was 
mortal  feud  between  us ;  and  when  I  saw  the  quarrelsome 
braggart  persecute,  with  cruel  buffetings,  such  blithe  embody- 
ments  of  musical  mirth  as  the  little  Parson  Oriole,  and  wag- 
ging Wren,  my  heart  would  be  moved  to  deadly  indignation  on 
behalf  of  my  gentle  playmates ;  but  when  the  warrior-bird 
screamed  its  game  defiance  as  it  fell  before  my  aim,  and 
pecked  and  clawed  at  me  to  the  last  gasp,  then  my  respect 
was  aroused,  and  I  stood  over  it,  sorrowing  for  my  hasty 
wrath. 

But  such  compunctious  visitings  would  become  less  and 
loss  frequent  with  each  new  deed  of  bloody  retribution  ! — as 
I  fain  would  call  it  now.  In  my  puisance  I  assumed  to  be 
the  champion  of  weakness  and  the  oppressed,  out  in  this  free 
world  of  nature ;  and  going  forth  slaying,  and  to  slay,  its 
tyrants,  I  loved  to  call  by  self-approving  names  this  lust  for 
slaughter  that  grew  upon  me. 


60  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

How  my  cheek  paled  when  a  warning  cry  from  some  watch- 
ful singer  would  hush  all  the  timid  choir  around,  and  with  a 
sudden  swoop  of  overcoming  wings,  the  dark  hawk  hurled  its 
fearful  form  down  amidst  the  scattering  throng ;  and  then, 
the  flushing  hot  blood,  how  it  tingled  through  me,  as  I  grasped 
my  gun ! 

My  very  soul  on  fire,  I  shivered  with  the  eagerness  of 
vengeful  wrath,  when  that  sharp  wail  broke  upon  the  breathless 
silence,  and  upward,  with  shrill,  triumphing  screams,  the 
robber  mounted,  in  heavy  flappings,  with  the  stricken  victim 
struggling  in  his  claws. 

One  concentrated  instant,  with  my  nerves  all  steel,  and 
his  strong  flight  swerves  to  the  report ! — a  shriek  of  baffled 
fierceness,  and  he  is  whirling  prone  to  earth ! 

No  errant  knight,  careering  earth  intent  on  deeds  of  "  high 
emprise,"  did  ever  press  his  mailed  foot,  at  last,  on  slain 
dragon's  scaly  neck,  with  more  exulting  consciousness  of  lof- 
tiest mede,  than  I  in  that  proud  moment  of  stern  victory. 

It  was  the  madness  of  a  glorious  exultation  when  I  thus 
slew  the  prowlers  of  earth,  or  air,  or  water !  I  was  exalted 
by  the  act,  and  felt  happy  in  their  pangs,  as  it  seemed  to  me, 
because  they  chased  and  tore  the  gentle  creatures  that  I  loved  ! 
I  could  not  realize  in  this  foolish  illusion,  the  mere  "  savagery 
of  unreclaimed  blood,"  therefore  did  I  rejoice  in  it  with  un- 
utterable delight !  It  was  not  that  I  was  cruel,  either, — 
I  was  drunk ! — drunk  with  blood  in  the  bewildering  riot  of 
youthful  energies  and  unaccustomed  power  ! 

Ah,  and  I  was  a  daring  climber,  too,  in  those  days !  a 
clean  shaft,  thirty  feet  to  the  limbs,  was  a  mere  irritation  to 
me,  especially  if  I  had  espied  a  grey  squirrel's  summer 
pavilion  swinging  to  the  breeze  upon  its  lofty  top. 

When  I  had  mounted,  what  a  joy  it  was,  rocking  with  un- 
dizzied  brain  from  topmost  fork,  to  look  out  over  the  upheav- 
ing, restless  ocean  of  green  leaves,  and  hear  their  low,  solemn 
murmurings  go  by  !  They  filled  me  with  a  strange  exulting, 


THE  NATURALIST  DEVELOPING.  £1 

those  wild  symphonies,  with  their  deep,  mellow,  muffled  roar, 
and  I  would  rock  my  perilous  perch  in  reckless  sweepings, 
to  and  fro,  until  it  swung  me  in  delicious  vaultings  through 
the  resonant  tumult,  like  a  sea-bird  lifted  on  the  storm-tossed 
waves. 

Many  a  ferruling  has  climbing  for  such  a  swing,  or  for  a 
bird's  nest,  cost  me,  savagely  laid  on  by  a  brutal  and  captious 
pedagogue ;  and  I  hate  the  mean  oppressor  to  this  day !  I 
was  a  scape-grace  truant,  to  be  sure ;  but  God  had  made  the 
glad  sun  and  beautiful  earth  that  wooed  my  lagging  steps,  and 
I  should  not  have  been  bruised  and  scarred  by  a  base,  thick- 
blooded  wretch,  because  I  yielded  an  hour  to  their  holy  spell, 
and  could  forget,  amid  scenes  of  such  enchantment,  even  the 
terrors  of  his  gloomy  reign. 

Verily,  that  "  Old  Field  Schoolmaster"  will  have  many 
grievous  sins  to  answer  for  in  his  day  of  account.  May  the 
justice  that  shall  be  measured  unto  him  be  more  lenient  than 
any  he  meted  out  to  me ! 

I  fought  him  at  last,  tooth  and  finger  nails,  with  the  scorn- 
ful but  futile  spite  of  the  little  warrior  King  Bird,  caught 
napping  by  the  claws  of  a  carrion  crow. 

I  ran  away  to  my  friends,  and  was  protected  from  his  ven- 
geance. Dread  was  the  ire  that  shook  his  mighty  soul  when 
he  saw  that  the  victim  was  beyond  the  reach  of  his  tyranny ! 
It  rose  and  expanded  into  prophecy,  and  he  registered  the 
vow  before  the  Fates,  that  he  would  live  to  see  me — the  worst 
boy  in  the  county — "  hanged  !" 

Ha !  ha !  It  might  certainly  have  befallen  me,  as  with 
Absalom,  to  have  been  hung  by  the  hair  in  a  vine  or  tree-top, 
for  daily  I  ran  the  risk  in  my  predacious  climbing,  but,  as 
yet,  the  neck  of  "  the  worst  boy  in  the  county"  claims  to  be 
innocent  of  any  unpleasant  familiarity  with  hemp !  May  the 
shadow  of  that  prophecy  never  be  less  !  Ah,  boys  who  loved 
the  green-wood  better  than  the  horn-book,  saw  hard  times  in 
my  young  days. 


62  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

But  now  came  the  first  great  revolution  to  my  young  life. 
I  must  be  sent  from  home  to  school !  The  rebel-boy  is  to  bo 
tamed  by  stern  and  wholesome  lessons — by  the  necessity  of 
self-sustained  struggle  with  the  rough  actualities  of  being. 

The  soft  delicious  haze  of  home — the  warm  thrill  of  nest- 
ling love  beneath  a  gentle  mother's  wing,  must  even  be  chilled 
away  in  the  bare,  unaided  conflict,  for  place  and  recognition 
among  my  fellows  in  the  strange  dreary  world  outside.  The 
tender  soothings  of  that  sweet  seclusion,  where  my  heart  had 
grown  all  fenced  about  by  charms,  must  now  give  place  to 
wanton  gibes ;  and  ruffian  buffettings  dispel  my  dream-born 
delicate  visions,  in  the  bare  melee  of  vulgar  license  ! 

It  was  a  fearful  trial,  but  I  endured  it ;  for  it  was  a  wild 
country  house  they  sent  me  to,  and  I  sought  for  compensation 
amidst  my  old  surroundings  of  the  natural  world.  Those 
loved  associations  of  the  shady  wood  gave  me  new  calm  with 
the  mild  presence  of  their  familiar  graces,  and  strengthened, 
with  music  of  the  songs  they  sung  at  home,  my  sinking  heart 
to  bear  the  sharp  bereavement.  Here,  from  my  first  cheering 
refuge,  they  became  my  almost  sole  companions  in  rough  soli- 
tary sports,  until  every  secret  place  they  made  their  haunts, 
for  miles  and  miles  around,  was  known  to  me  in  loving  visi 
tation,  wild  foray,  or  vengeful  raid. 

For  a  long  time  I  shrank  from  the  coarse  companionship 
of  the  rude  boys  of  my  own  age,  who  were  my  school-fellows 
— for,  fresh  from  my  sacred  home,  where  bird  voices  had 
mingled  most  with  the  gentle  tones  of  playmate  sisters,  their 
brutal  recklessness  of  speech  could  but  sound  repulsive  and 
disgusting  to  my  dainty  sense.  I  scorned  them  with  fastidious 
haughtiness ;  and  they  of  course  taunted  me  until,  my  pride 
aroused,  I  stood  at  bay  with  sullen  desperation,  and  in  many 
a  fierce  battle  pounded  a  full  respect  into  their  thick  skulls 
for  these  same  "womanish  ways"  of  mine,  as  they  had  dared 
to  name  them  ! 

Now  the  ice  was  fairly  broken — shocked  by  these  rude  col- 


THE   NATURALIST   DEVELOPING.  63 

lisions,  out  of  Dream-land  into  the  Real,  I  waked  into  a  lusty 
sympathy  with  its  stern  and  boisterous  elements.  The  hardy 
spirit  that  had  joyed  before  to  wrestle  in  isolation  with  the 
unhoused  wild  conditions  of  mere  nature,  learned  now  to  cope 
with  turbulent  passions  amidst  lawless  peers — to  feel  new 
exultings  in  an  emulous  strife  with  my  own  race ! 

Ah,  then  came  the  glorious  time  of  most  ambitious  feats  ! 
The  spirit  of  rivalry  once  aroused,  to  what  superb  extreme 
would  not  the  extravagant  energies  be  hurled  in  their  fierce 
lust  of  eminence  !  What  feats  of  incredible  audacity  and 
hysterical  endurance  ! 

The  pale  and  rigid  wrestler,  writhing  with  a  stouter  foe — 
the  desperate  runner  straining  at  a  distant  goal,  with  teeth 
clenched,  lest  he  should  pant  and  fall — the  climber,  taunted 
to  a  perilous  feat,  swinging  some  fearful  gap,  with  flying 
bound,  from  limb  to  limb  at  dizziest  height — the  swimmer, 
breasting  swollen  torrents  with  blue  limbs,  beating  vainly  to 
advance — these  were  my  playmates  now  in  reckless  emula- 
tion !  When  Saturday  came,  and  in  trembling  eagerness  we 
girded  up  our  loins  to  meet  our  freedom,  and  scattered  in 
hurrying  troops  over  the  rough  hills  and  away  to  seek  adven- 
ture for  this  happy  time,  how  dauntless  and  how  strong  were 
we !  Dangers  we  loved  for  danger's  sake,  and  shouted  for 
the  joy  to  meet  them. 

Those  holiday  hours  were  indeed  precious  fragments  from 
the  Nomad's  Dream  of  Paradise,  we  had  time  to  snatch,  fresh 
with  the  sparkle  of  dew  and  sunshine  on  them,  during  those 
cloudy  times  of  irksome  servitude — and  how  we  reveled  in 
them  when  they  came !  A  year  of  enjoyment  was  crowded 
through  those  fast  minutes  into  the  day. 

Away  with  the  rising  sun  to  the  "  Bottomless  Spring"  Mill 
Pond,  six  miles  off! — in  bare  feet — with  jackets  slung  over 
arms,  and  fishing  lines  in  pockets,  we  pattered  along  the 
bridle-path  at  the  long  swinging  gait  of  an  Indian  runner — 
never  pausing,  in  our  merry  chattering,  for  breath,  since  such 


t»4  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

time  was  too  precious !  "VVe  must  be  there  in  an  hour,  for  the 
greatest  fish  bite  early  ! 

The  dark  hills  are  past,  and  we  have  reached  the  level 
on  the  other  side,  and  through  the  great  trees  can  see  the 
sobered  glisten  of  the  vexed  tumbling  stream  we  have  leaped 
across  so  often  in  the  highlands,  now  creeping  in  slow  crystal 
spread  beneath  the  overhanging  shadows  toward  its  neared 
bourne.  There  they  go  in  splendid  shoals,  the  great  white 
trout,  darting  like  wild  pigeons  through  a  fluid  air,  as  we  are 
seen ;  and  now,  too,  we  can  slacken  our  swift  pace  to  gaze  in 
panting  ecstacy  for  awhile.  The  green  pike,  lithe  and  swift, 
glances  its  white  belly,  like  a  sword  flash,  up  at  us  as  he  darts 
past — the  active  succors  scattering  from  its  dreaded  path  ! 
We  cannot  take  them  here — they  hold  their  way  towards  the 
deep  water  that  now  shows  like  a  great  fog-bank  through  the 
thick  towering  forest  stems  ahead. 

Here  we  are  at  last !  as  the  wide  burst  of  water,  blazing  in 
the  morning  sun,  dazzles  our  eyes  accustomed  to  the  shades ! 
One  shout  of  joyous  greeting  and  then  to  work !  Quickly 
the  long  tapering  poles  are  cut  from  the  bordering  thickets — 
bait  for  our  small  hooks  produced,  and  in  hurried  eagerness 
the  favored  spot  secured.  They  are  thrown  in.  Hey  !  hey ! 
Hurrah ! — a  fluttering  splash ! — and  the  first  fish  is  landed 
amidst  laughing  congratulations,  altogether  at  war  with  the 
favorite  precepts  of  legitimate  angling !  But  what  care  we 
for  the  shades  of  Cotton  and  Walton  ? — the  fish  are  too 
abounding  and  too  eager  to  be  frightened  easily,  and  the 
noisy  sport  goes  on. 

Yonder,  away  across  the  lake-like  Pond,  is  the  Bottomless 
Spring.  There  the  greatest  fish  are  taken,  and  very  soon, 
with  a  sufficiency  of  minnows  secured,  we  hire  the  boat  from 
the  mill  below  to  cross.  At  last  comes  the  real  time  for 
sport.  The  excitement  is  too  great  now,  and  the  stakes  too 
important,  for  unseemly  mirth  or  noise.  With  rapid  silent 
oars  we  urge  across  the  broad  sheet,  avoiding  here  and  there 


THE   NATURALIST   DEVELOPING.  65 

the  formidable  snags  that  protrude  their  dry  rugged  arms 
from  some  buried  trunk  imploringly  towards  the  sunshine. 
Now  we  stem  with  laboring  oars  the  polished  glide  with  which 
the  dark  pool  throws  up  its  green  waters  from  unsounded 
depths. 

We  strain  our  eyes  downwards  through  that  dim  yawning 
gulf  in  wondering  awe,  for  here  the  legends  say  the  earth- 
crust  has  been  rent  by  the  Evil  One,  who  came  one  dark  night 
of  storm  and  horror  to  carry  off  a  noted  Infidel,  who  lived  not 
far  from  hence,  on  a  great  plantation,  years  ago !  Just  be- 
yond a  great  cave  yawns,  too,  and  we  can  push  the  boat  upon 
the  lapsing  transparency  up  beneath  the  dripping  roof,  until 
we  shudder,  of  the  rayless  gloom,  and  dare  not  venture  to  go 
farther ;  though  it  is  said  to  bring  us  at  last  beneath  a  vast 
and  vaulted  roof,  far  under  the  hills.  Here  we  let  go  our 
long  lines  over  the  side  of  the  boat,  in  the  Bottomless  Spring, 
a  hundred  feet  or  so,  and  now  for  the  trout  or  greedy  pike. 
Ah,  what  a  strange  thrill  it  is,  when  we  drag  up  with  many 
a  wary  strain  of  hissing  lines,  the  sparkling  prey  from  that 
mysterious  abyss. 

When  the  noon  comes  with  its  sultry  heats,  we  leave  our 
finny  sport  for  new  refreshing  in  those  cool  depths.  Delicious 
plunges !  down !  deep  down,  with  eager  eyes  opened  on  the 
wave,  we  strive  to  pierce  its  secrets — but  in  vain.  Many  an 
hour  we  struggled  and  plashed  through  the  freshening  waters, 
until  the  hot  sun  would  scorch  our  exposed  backs,  and  the 
blistered  skin  peel  from  the  writhing  flesh.  Evening,  and  the 
return  through  lengthening  shadows  with  our  burdens  of  fish 
carried  between  us,  found  our  flagging  steps  drag  heavily  on 
the  hilly  way,  and  the  late  moon  rose  behind  the  tall  chim- 
neys as  the  "Big  House"  came  in  welcome  view  ! 

Then  there  came,  too,  the  long  excursions  in  search  for 
young  squirrels  through  the  deep  trackless  heart  of  the  wild 
forest — or  in  the  autumn  to  gather  nuts ;  when,  for  either,  we 

5 


66  WILD    SCENES   AND    WILD    HUNTERS. 

must  cliinb  the  loftiest  of  the  hoary  trees,  and  that  with  a 
lithe  daring  that  would  have  curdled  soberer  blood. 

With  the  winter  came  new  sports,  more  hardy  still — the 
long  night  hunts  by  stealth  with  the  younger  darkies  and 
their  little  cur  dogs,  for  the  sulky  "  'Possum."  That  was 
great  sport  to  begin  with — for  we  seldom  ventured  far  from 
the  skirts  of  the  plantation  for  fear  of  getting  lost,  and  we 
were  not  yet  old  enough  to  be  promoted  to  sharing  the  dan- 
gerous honors  of  the  Coon  hunt  with  the  grown  negroes, 
because  we  could  not  keep  up  with  their  weary  tramps. 

But  the  'Possum  hunt  was  our  own  affair,  and  well  we 
knew  to  manage  it  among  ourselves.  It  all  had  to  be  done 
very  quietly ;  and  if  a  dog  barked  before  we  got  clear  out  of 
ear-shot  of  the  "Big  House,"  he  got  well  kicked  for  it  by  all 
in  reach — black  or  white.  We  dreaded  betrayal  in  the  least 
sound ;  and  even  the  chunk  of  fire  carried  by  the  biggest 
darkle,  was  carefully  sheltered  by  our  hats  and  bodies,  lest 
its  tell-tale  gleam  might  be  seen.  Once  round  the  turn  and 
fairly  in  the  woods,  we  breathed  freely,  and  might  venture  to 
raise  our  voices  from  the  eager  whispers  of  consultation  to 
the  more  decided  tones  of  decision  and  command — encouraging 
each  other  and  the  dogs:  for  "outer-darkness"  is  a  great 
damper  upon  both  boys  and  dogs ! 

Now  we  may  cheer,  and  even  whoop,  as  we  are  beginning 
to  enter  the  old  field,  where  the  persimmons  grow,  and  wild 
grapes  mat,  with  their  strong  tendrils,  the  scrubby  thickets. 
Here  the  "  'possums"  resort  to  feast  upon  the  fruits,  and  the 
"old  har"  keeps  his  form,  too,  in  the  long  grass  and  briar 
patches ;  and  every  now  and  then,  with  o  sudden  burst  of 
screeching  yelps,  the  little  curs  break  away  after  a  bounding 
fellow,  which  they  soon  lose  in  the  thickets.  We  do  not  care 
for  these  interruptions,  for  the  little  dogs  cannot  trail  them 
far,  and  soon  lose  them  in  doubling  through  the  briars.  We 
have  no  fear  that  the  noise  they  make  will  spoil  our  sport  a 


THE  NATURALIST  DEVELOPING.  67 

great  deal,  for  the  sluggish  'possum  does  not  care  to  trust  iis 
heels  much  on  the  ground  to  run  away,  and  we  shall  be  apt 
to  find  it  where  it  has  come  to  feed  on  the  persimmons,  or 
overtake  it  on  the  way.  With  many  a  shrill  whoop  and  yell 
we  cheer  the  dogs  on  to  greater  activity,  now  that  the  forage- 
grounds  are  gained,  and  the  game  must  be  at  hand. 

Hark,  a  low,  wary  yelp,  quick,  short,  half-smothered  with 
hesitation  and  eagerness  !  There  it  goes,  the  gathering  cry  ! 
yelp,  screech,  quaver,  whine !  They  are  bursting  to  let  go 
their  voices.  Hurrah  !  the  shrill  yell  rises  from  every  throat 
at  once,  curs,  boys,  darkies  screeching  all  together  in  one 
sharp,  sudden  cry  of  savage  exultation ;  then  all  is  silent. 

"  Tree'd  !"  "tree'd!"  Yes,  a  short,  sullen  bark  is  followed 
by  another  and  another,  as  each  dog  comes  up,  and  smelling 
at  the  tree,  satisfies  himself  that  all  is  right ;  now  we  plunge, 
tearing  through  the  brush,  regardless  of  briars  and  thorns,  in 
the  direction  of  these  sounds,  and  soon  we  hear  the  eager 
whining  of  the  dogs,  through  all  the  noise  of  their  barking. 
We  are  very  close  now ;  and  bursting  through  the  thicket, 
come  upon  them,  all  leaping  up  against  a  fence-corner  of  the 
plantation ;  there,  showing  plain  against  the  moon,  and  hang- 
ing by  the  tail  from  a  limb  of  that  bare  persimmon  over  the 
fence,  we  see  the  great  grey  'possum  savagely  grinning  at  the 
scene  below,  with  his  long,  white  teeth  full  bared ! 

Hah !  hah  !  hah  !  what  yells  of  merry  laughter  greet  the 
grotesque  sight !  Some  point  their  fingers  at  his  shame-faced 
grins,  some  pelt  him  with  rotten  boughs  caught  up  from  the 
dry  leaves  at  our  feet ;  while  the  dogs  yell  louder  still,  and 
leaping  against  the  tree  and  fence  fall  back  in  scrambles 
between  our  le<rs. 

f  ^ 

"Hn,  yah!  ole  boy!  what  do  dar,  grinnin'  at  dat  moon? 
Steal  more  olc  hen,  suck  more  eggs,  'nudder  night,  will 
yer?" 

"  Come  out  dat !  dat  curl-teil  no  hold  whar  dis  child  climb !" 
and  up  starts  a  young  darkie  to  shake  him  out. 


68 


WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 


"  Yah  !  yah  !  see  dot  'possum  laugh !  grin  nudder  side 
you's  mout  'fore  long,  ole  chicken  thief!" 

"  Shake  he,  Josh !  shake  hard,  nigger !  he  hold  on  good 
wid  he  curl-tail !" 

"  Ha  !  yah !  whoop  !  hear  he  growl !  now  dat  'possum  laugh  ! 
dar  he  come !" 

A  simultaneous  rush, — screams,  shrieks,  growls,  all  min- 
gled for  an  instant,  while  we  beat  off  the  dogs,  and  then  he  is 
swung  in  triumph  above  their  heads  by  the  tallest  of  the  party. 
Now  the  well  known  trick  of  the  opossum,  in  feigning  to  bo 
dead,  affords  new  amusement ;  and  he  is  surrounded  by  his 
merry  torturers,  who,  amidst  noisy  clamors,  tease  him  in  a 
thousand  ingenious  ways  to  make  him  show  signs  of  life, 


THE   NATURALIST   DEVELOPING.  69 

though  all  but  the  greener  ones  take  good  care  not  to  give 
him  too  good  a  chance  to  bite,  which  he  sometimes  does  with 
severity  while  thus  "playing  'possum." 

Sometimes  he  is  tree'd  in  a  large  tree,  and  then  the  fire 
must  be  built,  and  a  serious  job  we  have  of  it  to  got  at  him  ; 
but  the  attempt  is  seldom  relinquished  until  success  has  at- 
tended it.  The  negroes  take  charge  of  the  game  on  our 
return,  and  the  next  night  there  is  a  grand  'possum  roast  at 
the  Quarter,  in  which  we  participate  only  on  the  sly  as  have 
been  with  the  hunt. 

But  to  digress  about  our  teacher.  He  was  an  eccentric  person, 
who  having  been  poor  in  his  young  days,  had  acquired  a  fond- 
ness for  teaching,  which  he  had  adopted  then  from  a  necessity, 
but  which  continued  to  cling  to  him  through  his  life,  although 
his  marriage  had  brought  him  a  handsome  fortune.  He  there- 
fore kept  up  his  school  as  an  amateur,  rather  than  from  the  ne- 
cessities of  the  case.  His  plantation  was  a  very  extensive  one, 
situated  on  the  edge  of  a  wild  country,  and  his  admirable 
school  the  favored  and  noted  resort  of  the  sons  of  the  southern 
gentry,  from  far  and  wide. 

He  was  a  good  old  man,  that  father  Hinton,  and  loved  us 
all  as  his  own  children.  We  were  allowed  much  more  license, 
on  parole  of  honor,  than  was  usual  at  such  places ;  the  old 
gentleman  even  took  a  grotesque  sort  of  pleasure,  which  he 
awkwardly  attempted  to  conceal,  in  examining  and  comment- 
ing upon,  and  particularly  in  weighing  and  noting  down  the 
weight  of  our  game,  the  legitimate  produce  of  any  and  all 
our  wild  sports,  except  the  night-hunts,  which  were  strictly 
interdicted. 

I  shall  remember  his  appearance  to  my  dying  day,  on  one 
occasion  of  this  sort. 

We  had  made  an  unusually  successful  excursion  to  the 
distant  Bottomless  Spring  Mill  Pond  on  one  Saturday,  and 
the  next  morning,  which  was  Sunday,  we  were  very  eager  to 
exhibit  to  him  our  trophies,  of  which  we  were  very  proud. 


70  WILD    SCENES   AND    WILD   HUNTERS. 

lie  was  a  very  zealous  Presbyterian,  of  the  Old  School  doc- 
trine, and  of  course  very  strict  in  regard  to  his  and  our  de- 
meanor on  the  Sabbath.  We  were  therefore  a  little  afraid  to 
parade  our  fish  before  him  this  morning;  but  there  was  one 
among  the  rest,  a  great  white  perch,  or  trout,  as  it  was  in- 
correctly called  in  that  locality,  of  such  extraordinary  size, 
and  with  the  capture  of  which,  too,  there  was  such  a  ridiculous 
story  of  mishaps,  to  me  connected,  that  all  my  comrades  were 
bursting  with  eagerness  to  tell  it  before  Mr.  Hinton. 

They  would  not  venture,  however,  to  take  the  fish  to  him 
before  breakfast,  because  there  was  no  opportunity,  as  we 
were  always  marched  out  in  solemn  procession  from  morning 
prayers  to  the  breakfast  table,  which  was  placed  in  a  long 
and  wide  passage  of  the  large  house.  The  fish,  hoAvever, 
were  hung  in  a  grand  cluster  against  a  pillar  which  stood  near 
the  head  of  the  table,  in  such  a  position  that  his  eye  must 
necessarily  fall  upon  them  as  he  took  his  accustomed  posi- 
tion to  pronounce  the  grace  standing. 

Now  Mr.  Ilinton  was  a  person  of  genuine  dignity  of 
character,  and  we  stood  in  great  awe  of  the  earnest  solemnity 
of  manner  with  which  he  always  addressed  himself  to  the 
observances  of  his  religion ;  but  the  story  with  regard  to  the 
capture  of  the  great  trout  had  got  all  among  the  boys,  and 
the  sight  of  it,  paraded  so  ostentatiously,  now  caused  a 
general  disposition  to  titter,  which  was  even  ill  suppressed, 
as  our  teacher  assumed  his  place.  lie  had  not  chanced  to 
notice  it,  and  raised  his  hands  reverently,  and  the  habit  of 
respect  for  his  tall  and  thin,  but  commanding  presence  in 
these  solemn  functions,  for  the  instant  hushed  every  one 
breathlessly.  It  was  his  well  known  habit  to  hold  his  eyes 
reverently  closed  during  the  pronunciation  of  the  somewhat 
lengthy  benediction;  ;uid  I  am  sorry  to  s;iy  that  it  h;id  been 
a  general  habit,  too,  among  the  wor.st  of  us,  to  seize  irreve- 
rently this  occasion  to  snatch  in  wanton  mischief,  sundry 
articles  of  food  from  the  dishes  before  us,  which  could  bo 


THE  NATURALIST  DEVELOPING.  71 

transferred  to  our  pockets ;  or  else  to  throw  a  crust  of  bread 
across  the  table  and  hit  a  neighbor  on  the  nose,  or  pull  the 
ears  of  the  servant  girls  in  waiting,  or  indeed  perform  any 
other  ingenious  antics  which  did  not  require  too  much  time, 
or  cause  too  great  a  noise  i 

No  sooner  did  the  good  man  close  his  eyes  than  there 
was  so  general  a  movement  of  heads  and  hands,  such  loud 
whispering  and  noisy  attempts  to  choke  down  laughter,  that 
with  all  his  Sunday  morning  solemnity  he  could  not  help 
hearing,  and  accordingly  cut  short  the  grace  in  time  to  open 
his  eyes  upon  the  most  vivid,  interesting  tableaux  conceivable 
of  grins,  grimaces,  hob-nobbing  heads  and  pointing  fingers ; 
following  the  direction  of  which,  involuntarily  his  eye  rested 
first  upon  my  unlucky  self,  and  then  upon  the  monster  trout 
against  the  pillar,  as  the  cause  of  this  ill-timed  hubbub.  He 
started  somewhat  as  his  eye  took  in  its  size,  and  the  severe 
frown  gathering  upon  his  brow  was  contradicted  by  a  slight 
nervous  twitch  of  relaxation  at  the  corner  of  his  mouth  ;  our 
watchful  eyes  detected  instantly  this  favorable  sign,  and  there 
was  one  general  burst  of  the  smothered  laughter  from  all  sides, 
above  which  rose  the  stern  command, — 

"  Silence  !  what  does  this  mean,  young  gentlemen  ?" 

But  it  was  too  late  now  for  authority  to  be  regained  at  once, 
and  peal  after  peal  of  unrestrainable  laughter  set  order  at  de- 
fiance. But,  fortunately  for  the  delinquents,  the  good  man's 
eyes  seemed  to  wander  abstractedly,  drawn  by  some  irre- 
sistible attraction  towards  the  trout.  Suddenly  he  muttered, 
as  if  to  himself, — 

"  Why,  as  I  live,  that  fish  must  weigh  more  than  ten 
pounds!"  and  forgetting  all  our  outrageous  conduct  for  the 
moment,  he  strode  across  the  passage,  took  down  his  little 
spring  balance,  which  he  always  used  for  such  purposes,  and, 
to  our  increased  amusement  and  delight,  proceeded  immedi- 
ately to  satisfy  himself  as  to  the  weight. 

"  Twelve  pounds !"  he  exclaimed,  drawing  a  long  breath 


72  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

"  Whew,  pro-di-gious !  Greatest  trout  ever  taken  at  me 
Spring  Pond  since  my  memory !"  Then  replacing  fish  and 
scales,  he  turned  and  looked  sharply  along  the  table,  while 
the  hubbub  was  silenced  in  an  instant.  "  You  Charles, 
Henry,  Tom,  you  will  all  three  remain  after  school,  to-morrow 
morning !" 

This  was  said  with  a  severity  that  chilled  the  hearts  of 
those  of  us  named,  for  remaining  "after  school"  was  well 
known  to  portend  punishment  of  some  sort. 

However,  by  the  time  the  terrible  hour  of  judgment  came, 
the  whole  story  of  the  capture  having  reached  his  ears,  he 
was  evidently  more  disposed,  at  that  awful  moment,  when  all 
the  other  boys  had  vanished,  and  we  left  alone  with  him  to 
receive  sentence,  to  laugh  at  the  affair  himself,  than  to  be 
severe  with  us,  so  we  got  off  with  a  slight  reproof. 

The  incident  which  had  caused  so  much  fun  was  this : — • 
During  the  whole  day  of  Saturday  there  had  been  a  match 
going  on  among  us  all,  as  to  who  should  catch  the  most  and 
largest  fish.  It  so  happened  that  I  had  either  not  been  in 
the  mood  for  fishing,  or  had  been  in  poor  luck,  for  I  had 
caught  little  or  nothing. 

As  evening  closed  the  party  embarked  in  the  boat  to  return 
across  the  Pond,  and  were  quizzing  me  most  unmercifully  for 
my  poor  success ;  and  I  in  return  was  making  empty  boasts, 
which  I  had  no  dream  of  realizing,  as  I  stood  in  the  bow  idly 
lashing  the  water  with  my  line,  that  I  would  surely  catch  a 
larger  fish  than  all  their's  put  together,  before  we  reached  the 
other  shore.  There  was  no  bait  on  my  hook,  and  there  seemed 
surely  no  great  probability  of  my  performing  any  such  miracle. 
Our  boat  was  slowly  winding  among  the  buried  logs,  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  when  suddenly,  as  my  line  dropped  in 
our  wake,  the  gleam  of  the  leaden  sinkers  caught  the  eye  of 
a  huge  fish  which  made  its  lair  under  the  logs,  and  in  a  twink- 
ling I  was  jerked  head-foremost  over  the  bow  into  the  water, 
amidst  the  laughing  shouts  of  my  companions,  who  under- 


THE   NATURALIST   DEVELOPING.  73 

stood  the  thing  in  an  instant.  Some  one  shouted  comfort- 
ingly in  my  ear,  as  I  rose  spluttering  from  the  sudden  plunge, 
"  Ha !  ha  !  I  think  the  fish  has  caught  you  instead  !  Hold  on 
to  him  !  hold  on  !" 

The  fish  was  secured,  after  a  desperate  struggle,  "with  our 
united  force ;  and  as  I  was  yet  quite  a  little  fellow,  the  joke 
of  my  having  been  "  caught  by  the  fish,"  was  too  good  a  one 
not  to  tell  for  a  long  time  among  such  boys  ! 

We  had  skating,  too,  in  the  winter,  and  many  a  wild  scene 
there  was  when  we  were  flying,  like  squads  of  swallows,  hither 
and  yon  upon  the  ice.  There  were  some  winters  when  extra- 
ordinary floods  came  in  the  early  part  of  the  season,  and  then 
the  whole  forest  on  the  lowest  side  of  the  plantation  would 
be  flooded,  and  its  trunks  stand  several  feet  deep  in  the  clear 
water.  The  change  of  a  night  or  two  would  freeze  this  over 
suddenly — and  then  such  a  time  ! 

The  earliest  dawn  of  Saturday  found  us  afoot  with  prepa- 
ration, for  we  had  scarcely  slept  for  eagerness  through  that 
long  dull  night  of  Friday  !  Such  clanking  of  skates  as  we  set 
off  in  a  run,  with  a  cold  bite  for  breakfast  in  our  hands,  and 
some  more  stuffed  into  our  pockets  for  dinner !  This  was  too 
great  a  time  to  think  much  of  eating. 

Away  across  the  wide  bare  fields,  scrambling  over  the 
rough,  hard  frozen  ploughed  ground  in  our  thick  boots,  which 
made  great  clamor  on  the  crisp  clear  morning  air,  we  hurried 
with  smoking  nostrils  and  thick  gloved  hands.  Our  bodies 
just  from  the  warm  bed,  are  almost  cut  in  two  at  first  by  the 
cold  scythe  of  thai  winter's  breath  in  its  wide  keen  SAreep 
across  the  open  fields — but  soon  we  reach  the  shelter  of  the 
h,eavy  wood,  and  then  our  blood  comes  glowing  warm  again 
back  to  the  tingling  surface,  and  with  eager  shouts  we  greet 
the  strange  scene. 

Sunrise  is  streaming  now  down  through  the  dark  trunks  in 
many  a  line  of  rosy  light  that  is  reflected  in  sharp  broken 
blazes  far  and  wide,  from  the  aerial  mirror  underneath, 


74  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

that  holds  that  mighty  forest,  all  glory-tipped,  reversed,  in  its 
hard  clear  bosom.  The  fire  is  soon  built  to  warm  our  freezing 
fingers  while  the  skates  are  fitted ;  but  it  seems  a  fearful 
thing  to  trust  ourself  out  on  mid-air  thus — for  so  to  our  awed 
sense,  that  dark  translucent  depth  appears — as  we  shoot  above 
its  mysteries,  almost  of  our  own  volition, 

"  And  yet  no  footing  seen." 

Motion  soon  dispels  the  chill  of  strangeness,  and  now  with 
hardy  eagerness  we  spring  away  in  facile  glide  among  the 
great  trees,  and  soon  we  dart,  and  wind,  and  fly,  as  in  that 
marvelous  sense  of  motion  without  wings,  in  overcoming  space, 
that  sometimes  visits  us  in  dreams.  How  rapturous  that 
wild  ecstacy  of  speed !  We  flew  past  walls  of  trunks,  run 
into  each  other — we  circled  like  thoughts,  whirling  as  moun- 
tain winds  are  eddied — into  the  light,  and  out,  like  glittering 
shadows  dimmed,  while  the  ringing  clangors  of  our  steel-shod 
heels  receded  in  soft  meanings  from  our  swift  way ! 

So  sped  our  lives,  winter  and  summer,  as  a  vision  goes,  until 
the  time  came  at  last  when  we  must  leave  that  old  place,  some 
of  us  for  wider  fields  of  busy  strife,  out  in  the  great  world 
of  men,  and  others  for  college.  With  what  fond  regrets  my 
memory  revisits  those  rude  and  pleasant  scenes.  They  are 
near  the  last  of  those  still-life  pictures,  where  the  soul  rests 
calmly  in  the  past. 

Now  the  action  thickens  as  the  opening  turmoil  hourly 
includes  new  scenes,  new  experiences,  with  diversified  excite- 
ments rousing  deeper  passions.  The  boy  is  yet  not  all  a  boy, 
and  the  consciousness  of  strange  yearnings  and  new  ambitions 
begin  to  move  his  breast  with  undefined  wonder. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   NIGHT   HUNT   IN   RECESS, 

BUT  still  the  old  leaven  leaveneth  the  whole  lump,  and  with 
the  advent  of  Commencement,  earlier  passions  soon  displaced 
the  new  ambitions.  Ah  !  do  I  not  remember  well  those  turbu- 
lent times — when,  having  got  somewhat  up  in  my  "teens,"  i 
began  to  "feel  myself,"  and  think  of  a  truant  independent^ 
in  college  recess  ? 

The  "old  folks,"  as  I  and  sundry  other  "young  gentlemen 
sophomores"  of  the  neighborhood,  were  disposed  to  believe 
unanimously, — were  entirely  too  close  and  particular ;  or,  ir 
a  word,  since  our  college  experience,  apron-strings  were  be- 

75 


76  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

ginning  to  be  manacles !  A  declaration  of  independence  had 
become  necessary !  not  an  open  one,  but  a  declaration  of 
"  expediency  !"  sucli  an  one  as  we  could  make  without  involv- 
ing serious  consequences. 

For  instance,  item,  our  right  to  creep  out  of  our  windows 
when  the  "sleepless  Gryphons"  were  a-bed — for  once  "caught 
napping" — to  keep  "tryst"  with  our  "peers"  in  view  of  a 
descent  upon  some  old  snarler's  watermelon  patch,  which  lay 
odd  miles  away.  Item,  our  right  by  the  same  mode  of  exit, 
or  other  strategy,  at  a  given  hour  of  the  night,  to  meet  at  the 
said  given  place,  with  the  intention  of  enjoying  the  moon  in 
a  "coon"  or  "'possum"  hunt  with  the  "Darkies"  and  their 
dogs,  down  at  the  "Quarter,"*  &c.,  &c.,  &c. 

As  the  time  had  come  when  we  felt  it  necessary  to  make 
such  doughty  demonstrations,  our  measures  were  of  course 
taken  with  due  an  1  necessary  forecast. 

Old  Sambo,  down  at  the  Quarter,  the  dingy  Nimrod  of 
darkness  and  the  "Darkies,"  was  first  to  be  propitiated.  He 
is  somewhat  coy  at  Crst,  for  Js  grizzly  poll  has  been  pene- 
trated with  a  veneration  mos,  profound  for  the  dictum  of  the 
constituted  authorities  at  tts  "  J3'g  House  !"  Sundry  presents 
of  "baccar"  pipes,  and  old  snTv.' ^s,  assisted  by  a  most  con- 
descending and  confidential  man;MT  on  our  part,  gradually 
bring  him  around  to  a  reciprocation.  In  vague  hints,  and 
through  telegraphic  nods  and  gestures  of  most  profound  signi- 
fication, the  time,  place,  probable  force,  and  accompaniments 
of  his  n?xt  great  turn-f  .t  from  the  Quarter,  for  a  "coon" 
hunt,  are  all  impartnl  to  the  "young  massa."  We  of  course 
instantly  convey  the  momentous  news  through  somewhat  less 
mysterious  mediums  to  sundry  young  companions,  living  near 
at  hand,  who  are  eagerly  awaiting  it. 

The  important  night  has  arrived.     The  "old  folks"  have 


*  On  the  plantations  there  are  usually  several  villages,  or  settlements  of 
the  negroes,  which  are  called  "Quarters." 


THE   NIGHT-HUNT   IN   RECESS.  77 

barely  time  to  commence  their  first  snooze,  having  taken  it 
for  granted  that  we  are  where  dutiful  and  obedient  sons  should 
be  at  such  an  hour — in  the  land  of  Nod — when  by  sundry 
silent  exhibitions  of  our  skill  at  escalading,  we  have  made  our 
escape  from  the  sacred  precincts  of  authority,  and  are  off  to 
Sambo's  Quarter,  footing  it  with  a  fluttering  heart  beneath 
the  uncertain  starlight. 

Now  as  we  had  been  prohibited  from  joining  in  "night- 
hunts,"  first,  on  the  ground  that  they  injured  our  health,  and 
secondly,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  dangerous,  and  third 
and  lastly,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  highly  undignified  that 
young  gentlemen  "to  the  manor  born,"  and  just  from  college, 
too,  should  go  out  hunting  with  "the  servants  :"  we  of  course, 
with  the  heavy  portent  of  all  these  formidable  indictments 
hanging  over  us,  felt  that  discovery  would  be  attended  with 
just  the  requisite  amount  of  danger  to  give  piquancy  to  the 
commencement  of  an  enterprise. 

If  our  pulse  was  quickened,  our  heels  were  not  less  so  by 
such  considerations.  We  were  sinning  on  the  strength  of  our 
instincts,  and  we  knew  it !  We  pause  at  the  several  cross- 
paths  on  the  way,  to  wait  for  the  other  young  recusants  who 
were  to  join  us.  One  after  another  they  come  in,  each  usually 
attended  by  a  favorite  servant  not  far  from  his  own  age,  who 
has  been  admitted  to  his  confidence.  Joyously  enough  we 
begin  to  gabble  as  the  distance  between  us  and  the  awful 
shadows  of  the  "Big  House"  is  increased.  Soon  the 

" Long  leveled  rule  of  streaming  light," 


for  a  sight  of  which  the  bewitched  lady  in  Comus  prayed, 
"visits"  us,  and  as  we  approach,  the  one  ruddy  "level" 
divides  itself  into  many  a  narrow  fitful  stream  from  the  open 
d;>ors  and  glowing  hearths  of  the  "  Quarter  !" 

The  crossing  of  shadows  to  and  fro  shows  that  all  there  is 
alert.  We  hear  the  subdued  too-oot  of  a  horn,  and  the  low 
opening  howl  of  the  gathering  dogs  in  answer.  We  begin  to 


78  WILD    SCENES   AXD   WILD    IIUNTEKfs. 

grow  silent,  and  move  faster.  The  horn  is  sounded  more 
boldly,  and  the  howls  accompany  it  in  a  gathering  cadence. 

NOAY  the  scene  has  burst  upon  us  through  an  opening  of  the 
trees  ! — There  they  are !  Negroes  of  all  degrees,  size  and 
age,  and  of  dogs — 

"  Mastiff,  greyhound,  mongrel  grim, 
Hound  or  spaniel,  brack  or  lym, 
Or  bobtail  tike,  or  trundle  tail," 

All  are  there,  in  one  conglomerate  of  active,  noisy  confusion. 
When  indications  of  the  hurried  approach  of  our  company  are 
perceived,  a  great  accession  to  the  hubbub  is  consequential. 

Old  Sambo  sounds  a  shriller  note  upon  his  horn,  the  dogs 
rise  from  independent  howls  to  a  simultaneous  yell,  and  along 
with  all  the  young  half-naked  darkies  rush  to  meet  us.  The 
women  come  to  the  doors  with  their  blazing  lamps  lifted  above 
their  heads,  that  they  may  get  a  look  at  the  "young  masters," 
and  we,  shouting  with  excitement,  and  blinded  by  the  light, 
plunge  stumbling  through  the  meeting  current  of  dogs  and 
young  negroes,  into  the  midst  of  the  gathering  party.  Here 
we  are  suddenly  arrested  by  a  sort  of  awe  as  we  find  ourselves 
in  the  presence  of  old  Sambo.  The  young  dogs  leap  upon 
us  with  their  dirty  fore-paws,  but  we  merely  push  aside  their 
caresses,  for  old  Sambo  and  his  old  dog  Bose  are  the  two 
centres  of  our  admiration  and  interest. 

Old  Sambo  is  the  "Mighty  Hunter  before" — the  moon! 
of  all  that  region.  He  is  seamed  and  scarred  with  the  pitti- 
less  siege  of  sixty  winters  !  Upon  all  matters  appertaining 
to  such  hunts,  his  word  is  "laiv,"  while  the  "tongue"  of  his 
favorite  and  ancient  friend  Bose  is  recognized  as  "gospel." 
In  our  young  imaginations,  the  two  are  respectfully  identified. 

Old  Sambo,  with  his  blanket  "roundabout" — his  cow's-horn 
trumpet  slung  about  his  shoulders  by  a  tow  string — his  bare 
head,  with  its  greyish  fleece  of  wool — the  broad  grin  of  com- 
placency, showing  his  yet  sound  white  teeth — and  rolling  the 


THE   NIGHT-HUNT   IN   RECESS.  79 

•whites  of  his  eyes  benignantly  over  the  turmoil  of  the  scene 
— was  to  us  the  higher  prototype  of  Bose.  He,  with  the 
proper  slowness  of  dignity,  accepts  the  greet  of  our  patting 
caresses,  with  a  formal  wagging  of  the  tail,  which  seems  to 
say — "  0,  I  am  used  to  this !"  while,  when  the  young  dogs 
leap  upon  him  with  obstreperous  fawnings,  he  will  correct 
them  into  propriety  with  stately  snarling.  They  knew  him 
for  their  leader  ! — they  should  be  more  respectful ! 

Now  old  Sambo  becomes  patronizing  to  us,  as  is  necessary 
and  proper  in  our  new  relations !  From  his  official  posi- 
tion of  Commander-in-chief,  he  soon  reduces  the  chaos  around 
us  into  something  like  subjection,  and  then  in  a  little  time 
comes  forth  the  form  of  our  night's  march.  A  few  stout 
young  men  who  have  obeyed  his  summons  have  gathered 
around  him  from  the  different  huts  of  the  Quarter — some  with 
axes,  and  others  with  torches  of  pine  and  bark.  The  dogs 
become  more  restless,  and  we  more  excited,  as  these  indices 
of  immediate  action  appear. 

Now,  with  a  long  blast  from  the  cow's-horn  of  Sambo,  and 
a  deafening  clamor  of  all  sizes,  high  and  low — from  men, 
women,  children  and  dogs,  we  take  up  the  line  of  march 
for  the  woods.  Sambo  leads,  of  course.  We  are  soon  trail- 
ing after  him  in  single  file,  led  by  the  glimmer  of  the  torches 
far  ahead. 

Now  the  open  ground  of  the  plantation  has  been  passed, 
and  as  we  approach  the  deep  gloom  of  the  bordering  forest — 

"  Those  perplexed  woods, 
The  nodding  horror  of  whose  shady  brows 
Threats  the  forlorn  and  wandering  passenger" — 

even  the  yelpings  of  the  excited  dogs  cease  to  be  heard,  and 
they  dash  on  into  the  darkness  as  if  they  were  going  to  work 
— while  we  with  our  joyous  chattering  subsided  into  silence, 
enter  these  "  long-drawn  aisles"  with  a  sort  of  shiver  ;  the 
torches  showing,  as  we  pass  in  a  dim  light,  the  trees — theii 


80  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

huge  trunks  vaulting  over  head  into  the  night,  with  here  and 
there  a  star  shining  like  a  gem  set  into  their  tall  branching 
capitals — while  on  either  side  we  look  into  depths  of  black- 
ness as  unutterably  drear  to  us  as  thoughts  of  death  and 
nothingness.  Oh,  it  was  in  half  trembling  wonder  then,  we 
crowded,  trampling  on  the  heels  of  those  before,  and,  when 
after  awhile  the  rude  young  negroes  would  begin  to  laugh 
aloud,  we  felt  that  in  some  sort  it  was  profane. 

But  such  impressions  never  lasted  long  in  those  days. 
Every  other  mood  and  thought  gives  way  to  the  novelty  and 
contagious  excitement  of  adventure.  We  are  soon  using  our 
lungs  as  merrily  as  the  rest.  The  older  dogs  seem  to  know 
perfectly,  from  the  direction  taken,  what  was  the  game  to  be 
pursued  for  the  night.  Had  we  gone  up  by  the  old  Field 
'where  the  Persimmon  trees  grow,  they  would  have  understood 
that  "possums"  were  to  be  had;  but  as  old  Sambo  led  off 
through  the  deep  woods  towards  the  swamps,  it  said  "  coons" 
to  them  as  plain  as  if  they  had  been  Whigs  of  1840. 

The  flush  of  blood  begins  to  subside  as  we  penetrate  deeper 
into  the  wood,  and  as  we  hear  old  Sambo  shout  to  his  staff 
officers  and  immediate  rear  guard,  "Ilushdat  'ar  jawing,  you 
niggers,  dar,"  we  take  it  for  granted  that  it  is  a  hint,  meant 
not  to  be  disrespected  by  us,  that  silence  is  necessary,  lest 
we  should  startle  the  game  too  soon  and  confuse  the  dogs. 

All  is  silence  now,  except  the  rustle  of  our  tramp  over  the 
dried  autumn  leaves,  and  occasional  patter  of  the  feet  of  a 
dog  who  ranges  near  to  our  path.  Occasionally  a  white  dog 
comes  suddenly  out  of  the  darkness  into  view  and  disappears 
as  soon,  leaving  our  imagination  startled  as  if  some  curious 
sprite  had  come  "  momently"  from  out  its  silent  haunts  to 
peep  at  us.  Then  we  will  hear  the  rustling  of  some  rapid 
thing  behind  us,  and  looking  round,  sec  nothing ;  then  spring 
aside  with  a  nervous  bound  and  fluttering  pulse,  as  some  black 
object  brushes  by  our  legs — "  Xothin'  but  dat  dog,  Xigger  Trim- 
bush,"  chuckles  a  darkie,  who  observed  us — but  the  couplet, — • 


THE   NIGHT-HUNT   IN  RECESS.  81 

"  And  the  kelpie  must  flit  from  the  black  bog  pit, 
And  the  brownie  must  not  tarry," 

flashes  across  our  memory  from  the  romance  of  superstition, 
with  the  half  shudder  that  is  the  accompaniment  of  such 
dreamy  images. 

Hark,  a  dog  opens — another,  then  another !  We  are  still 
in  a  moment,  listening — all  eyes  are  turned  upon  old  Sambo, 
the  oracle.  He  only  pauses  for  a  minute. 

"  Dem's  de  pups — ole  dogs  aint  dar  !"  A  pause.  "Pshaw, 
nothin  but  a  ole  har !" — and  a  long,  loud  blast  of  the  horn 
sounds  the  recall. 

We  move  on — and  now  the  frosty  night  air  has  become 
chilly,  and  we  begin  to  feel  that  we  have  something  to  do 
before  us.  Our  legs  are  plied  too  lustily  on  the  go-ahead 
principle  for  us  to  have  time  to  talk.  The  young  dogs  have 
ceased  to  give  tongue ;  for  like  unruly  children  they  have 
dashed  off  in  chase  of  what  came  first,  and  as  the  American 
hare  ("  Lepus  Amerieanus"}  is  found  nearly  everywhere,  it 
was  the  earliest  object. 

Just  when  the  darkness  is  most  deep,  and  the  sounds  about 
our  way  most  hushed,  up  wheels  the  silver  moon,  and  with  a 
mellowed  glory  overcomes  the  night.  The  weight  of  darkness 
has  been  lifted  from  us,  and  we  trudge  along  more  cheerily ! 
The  dogs  are  making  wider  ranges,  and  we  hear  nothing  of 
them.  The  silence  weighs  upon  us,  and  old  Sambo  gives  an 
occasional  whoop  of  encouragement.  We  would  like,  too,  to 
relieve  our  lungs,  but  he  says,  "  nobody  mus  holler  now  but 
clem  dat  de  dog  knows :  make  'em  bother !"  We  must  per- 
force be  quiet;  for  "  de  dog"  means  Bose,  and  we  must  be 
deferential  to  his  humors  ! 

Tramp,  tramp,  tramp,  it  has  been  for  miles,  and  not  a  note 
from  the  dogs.  We  are  beginning  to  be  fatigued ;  our  spirits 
sink,  and  we  have  visions  of  the  warm  room  and  bed  we  have 
deserted  at  home.  The  torches  are  burning  down,  and  the 

cold,  pale  moon-light  is  stronger  than  that  they  give.     One 

6 


82  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

after  another  the  young  dogs  come  panting  back  to  us,  and 
fall  lazily  into  our  wake.  "  Hang  coon  hunts  in  general ! — 
this  is  no  joke ;  all  cry  and  no  wool !" 

Hark  !  a  deep-mouthed,  distant  bay !  The  sound  is  electri- 
cal ;  our  impatience  and  fatigue  are  gone !  All  ears  and 
eyes,  we  crowd  around  old  Sambo.  The  oracle  attitudinizes. 
He  leans  forward  with  one  ear  turned  towards  the  earth  in 
the  direction  of  the  sound.  Breathlessly  we  gaze  upon  him. 
Hark !  another  bay ;  another ;  then  several  join  in.  The  old 
man  has  been  unconsciously  soliloquizing  from  the  first  sound. 

"  Golly,  dat's  nigger  Trim  !"  in  an  under  tone;  "he  kno.v 
de  coon!"  Next  sound.  "Dat's  a  pup;  shawl"  Pause. 
"  Dat's  a  pup,  agin  !  Oh,  niggers,  no  coon  dar  !" 

Lifting  his  outspread  hand,  which  he  brings  down  with  a 
loud  slap  upon  his  thigh ;  "  Yah  !  yah  !  dat's  ole  Music ;  look 
out,  niggers !"  Then,  as  a  hoarse,  low  bay  comes  booming 
to  us  through  a  pause,  he  bounds  into  the  air  with  the  caperish 
agility  of  a  colt,  and  breaks  out  in  ecstasy,  "  Whoop  !  whoop ! 
dat's  do  ole  dog ;  go  my  Bose  !"  Then  striking  hurriedly 
through  the  brush  in  the  direction  of  the  sounds,  we  only  hear 
from  him  again, 

"  Yah  !  yah  !  yah  !  dat's  a  coon,  niggers  !  Bose  dar  !" 
A_nd  away  we  rush  as  fast  as  we  can  scramble  through  the 
underbrush  of  the  thick  wood.  The  loud  burst  of  the  whole 
pack  opening  together,  drowns  even  the  noise  of  our  progress. 

The  cry  of  a  full  pack  is  maddening  music  to  the  hunter. 
Fatigue  is  forgotten,  and  obstacles  are  nothing.  On  we  go ; 
yelling  in  chorus  with  the  dogs.  Our  direction  is  towards  the 
swamp,  and  they  arc  fast  hurrying  to  its  fastnesses.  But 
what  do  we  care  !  Briars  and  logs  ;  the  brush  of  dead  trees ; 
plunges  half  leg  deep  into  the  watery  mire  of  boggy  places 
arc  alike  disregarded.  The  game  is  up  !  Hurrah  !  hurrah  ! 
we  must  be  in  at  the  death !  So  we  scurry,  led  by  the  mad- 
dening chorus — 

"  —  -\vhile  the  bablilintr  echo  mocks  the  hounds." 


THE   NIGHT-HUNT   IN   RECESS.  83 

Suddenly  the  reverberations  die  away.  Old  Sambo  halts. 
When  we  get  into  ear-shot  the  only  word  we  hear  is,  "  Tree'd !" 
This  from  the  oracle  is  sufficient.  We  have  another  Ions* 

o 

scramble,  in  which  we  are  led  by  the  monotonous  baying  of  a 
single  dog. 

We  have  reached  the  place  at  last  all  breathless.  Our 
torches  have  been  nearly  extinguished.  One  of  the  young 
dogs  is  seated  at  the  foot  of  a  tree,  and  looking  up,  it  bays 
incessantly.  Old  Sambo  pauses  for  awhile  to  survey  the 
scene.  The  old  dogs  are  circling  round  and.  round,  jumping 
up  against  the  side  of  every  tree,  smelling  as  high  as  they 
can  reach.  They  are  not  satisfied,  and  Sambo  waits  for  his 
tried  oracles  to  solve  the  mystery.  He  regards  them  steadily 
and  patiently  for  awhile;  then  steps  forward  quickly,  and 
beats  off  the  young  dog  who  had  "lied"  at  the  "tree." 

The  veterans  now  have  a  quiet  field  to  themselves,  and 
after  some  further  delay  in  jumping  up  the  sides  of  the  sur- 
rounding trees,  to  find  the  scent,  they  finally  open  in  full 
burst  upon  the  trail.  Old  Sambo  exclaims  curtly,  as  we  set 
off  in  the  new  chase, 

"  Dat  looks  like  coon  !  but  cats  is  about !" 

Now  the  whole  pack  opens  again,  and  we  are  off  after  it, 
We  all  understand  the  allusion  to  the  cats — for  we  know  that, 
like  the  raccoon,  this  animal  endeavors  to  baffle  the  dogs  by 
running  some  distance  up  a  tree,  and  then  springing  off  upon 
another,  and  so  on  until  it  can  safely  descend.  The  young 
dogs  take  it  for  granted  that  he  is  in  the  first  tree,  while  the 
older  ones  sweep  circling  round  and  round  until  they  are 
convinced  that  the  animal  has  not  escaped.  They  thus  baffle 
the  common  trick  which  they  have  learned  through  long  ex- 
perience, and  recovering  the  trail  of  escape,  renew  the 
chase. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances  we  would  already  have  been 
sufficiently  exhausted ;  but  the  magnetism  of  the  scene  lifts 
cur  feet  as  if  they  had  been  shod  with  wings.  Another 


84  WILD    SCENES   AND    WILD    HUNTERS. 

weary  scramble  over  every  provoking  obstacle,  and  the  soli- 
tary baying  of  a  dog  is  heard  again  winding  up  the  "  cry." 

When  we  reach  the  "  tree"  this  time,  and  find  it  is  another 
"feint,"  we  are  entirely  disheartened,  and  all  this  excitement 
and  fatigue  of  the  night  reacting  upon  us  leaves  us  utterly 
exhausted,  and  disinclined  to  budge  one  foot  further.  Old 
Sambo  comes  up — he  has  watched  with  an  astute  phiz  the 
movements  of  the  dogs  for  some  time. 

"  Thought  dat  ware  a  ole  coon  from  de  fust !  Dat's  a 
mighty  ole  coon !"  with  a  dubious  shake  of  his  head.  "  Ole 
coon  nebber  run  dat  long  !"  Another  shake  of  the  head,  and 
addressing  himself  to  his  "staff:"  "Ole  coon  nebber  run'ed 
dis  fur,  niggers  !  '  Then  turning  to  us — "  Massas,  dat  a  cat ! 
— 'taint  no  coon  !" 

The  dogs  break  out  again,  at  the  same  moment,  and  with 
peculiar  fierceness,  in  full  cry.  "  Come  'long,  niggers  ! — 
maby  dat's  a  coon — maby  'taint!"  and  off  he  starts  again. 

We  are  electrified  by  the  scenes  and  sounds  once  more,  and 
"follow,  still  follow,"  forgetting  everything  in  the  renewed 
hubbub  and  excitement.  Wearily  now  we  go  aga!n  over 
marsh  and  quagmire,  bog  and  pond,  rushing  through  vines 
and  thickets  and  dead  limbs.  Ah,  what  glimpses  have  we 
of  our  cozy  home  during  this  wild  chase !  Now  our  strength 
is  gone — we  are  chilled,  and  our  teeth  chatter — the  moon 
seems  to  be  the  centre  of  cold  as  the  sun  is  of  heat,  and  its 
beams  strike  us  like  arrows  of  ice.  Yet  the  cry  of  the  dogs 
is  onward,  and  old  Sambo  and  his  staff  yell  on  ! 

Suddenly  there  is  a  pause  !  the  dogs  are  silent,  and  we  hold 
up  !  "  Is  it  .all  lost  ?"  we  exclaim,  as  we  stagger,  with  our 
bruised  and  exhausted  limbs,  to  a  seat  upon  an  old  log.  The 
stillness  is  as  deep  as  midnight — the  owl  strikes  the  watch 
with  his  too-whoo  !  Hah  !  that  same  hoarse,  deep  bay  which 
first  electrified  us  comes  booming  again  through  the  stillness. 

"  Yah !  yah !  dat  ole  coon  am  done  for !  Bose  got  he, 
niggers — Gemmen,  come  on  !" 


THE   NIGHT-HUNT   IN   RECESS.  85 

The  inspiriting  announcement,  that  Bose  had  tree'd  at  last, 
is  balm  to  all  our  wounds,  and  we  follow  in  the  hurry-scurry 
rush  to  the  tree.  Arrived  there,  we  find  old  Bose  on  end 
barking  up  a  great  old  oak,  while  the  other  dogs  lie  panting 
around.  "Dare  he  am,"  says  old  Sambo.  "Make  a  fire, 
niggers  !"  There  is  but  a  single  stump  of  a  torch  left ;  but 
in  a  little  while  they  have  collected  dried  wood  enough  to 
kindle  a  great  blaze. 

"  Which  nigger's  gwine  to  climb  dat  tree  ?"  says  old  Sambo, 
looking  round  inquiringly.  Nobody  answers.  The  insinua- 
tions he  had  thrown  out,  that  it  might  be  a  cat,  have  had 
their  effect  upon  the  younger  darkies.  Sambo  waits,  in  dig- 
nified silence,  for  an  answer,  and  throwing  off  his  horn,  with 
an  indignant  gesture,  he  says, — 

"  You  d — n  pack  of  chicken-gizzards,  niggers  ! — climb  de 
tree  myself!"  and  straightway  the  wiry  old  man,  with  the 
activity  of  a  boy,  springs  against  the  huge  trunk,  and  com- 
mences to  ascend  the  tree. 

Bose  gives  an  occasional  low  yelp  as  he  looks  after  his 
master.  The  other  dogs  sit  with  upturned  noses,  and  on 
restless  haunches,  as  they  watch  his  ascent. 

Nothing  is  heard  for  some  time,  but  the  fall  of  dead 
branches  and  bark  which  he  throws  down.  The  fire  blazes 
high,  and  the  darkness  about  us,  beyond  its  light,  is  unpene- 
trated  even  by  the  moon.  We  stand  in  eager  groups  watch- 
incr  his  ascent.  He  is  soon  lost  to  our  view  amongst  the 

O  O 

limbs  ;  yet  we  watch  on  until  our  necks  ache,  while  the  eager 
dogs  fidget  on  their  haunches,  and  emit  short  yelps  of  im- 
patience. We  see  him,  against  the  moon,  far  up  amongst  the 
uppermost  forks,  creeping  like  a  beetle,  up,  still  up  !  We  are 
all  on  fire — the  whole  fatigue  and  all  the  bruises  of  the  chase 
forgotten !  our  fire  crackles  and  blazes  fiercely  as  our  im- 
patience, and  sends  quick  tongues  of  light,  piercing  the  black 
throng  of  forest  sentinels  about  us. 


86  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

Suddenly  the  topmost  branches  of  the  great  oak  begin  to 
shake,  and  seem  to  be  lashing  the  face  of  the  moon. 

"  De  cat !  de  cat !  look  out  down  dar  !"  The  dogs  burst 
into  an  eager  howl!  He  is  shaking  him  off!  A  dark  object 
comes  thumping  down  into  our  midst,  and  shakes  the  ground 
with  its  fall.  The  eager  dogs  rush  upon  it !  but  we  saw  the 
spotted  thing  with  the  electric  flashing  of  its  eyes.  Yells 
and  sputtering  screams — the  howls  of  pain — the  gnashing 
growls  of  assault — the  dark,  tumbling  struggle  that  is  rolled, 
with  its  fierce  clamors,  out  from  our  fire-light  into  the  dark 
shadows  of  the  wood,  are  all  enough  to  madden  us. 

We  all  rush  after  the  fray,  and  strike  wildly  into  its  midst 
with  the  clubs  and  dead  limbs  we  have  snatched,  when  one 
of  the  body-guards  happens  to  think  of  his  axe,  and  with  a 
single  blow  settles  it ! 

All  is  over !  We  get  home  as  we  may,  and  about  the 
time 

' the  dapple  grey  coursers  of  the  morn 

Beat  up  the  light  with  their  bright  silver  hoofs, 
And  chase  it  though  the  sky," 

we  creep  cautiously  into  our  back  window,  and  sleep  not  the 
less  profoundly  for  our  fatigue,  that  we  have  to  charge  our 
late  hour  of  rising,  next  day,  upon  Bacon,  or  the  Iliad,  Jr- 
etead  of  the  "Night  Hunt." 


CHAPTER  V. 

AUDUBON — THE    HUNTER-NATURALIST. 

THE  time  had  now  come  to  my  developed  and  overflowing 
passions  when  life  must  mate  itself  with  destiny ;  when  tastes 
and  energies  thus  nourished  in  wild  seclusion,  should  seek 
their  legitimate  direction — should  break  away  on  their  own 
course  to  find  their  natural  level ! 

And  so  they  did,  with  a  vengeance !  For  had  the  uncon- 
querable instinct  been  wanting  in  my  nature,  there  was  one 
NAME  that  had  so  filled  my  life,  that  it  alone  would  have 
been  sufficient  to  inspire  me  with  a  giant's  strength,  had  such 
been  necessary,  to  burst  all  bonds  and  away  upon  the  same 
free  track  ! 

87 


88  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

Audubon !  Audubon  !  Delightful  name  !  Ah,  do  I  not 
remember  well  the  hold  it  took  upon  my  young  imagination 
when  I  heard  the  fragmented  rumor  from  afar,  that  there  was 
a  strange  man  abroad  then,  who  lived  in  the  wilderness  with 
only  his  dog  and  gun,  and  did  nothing  day  by  day,  but  follow 
up  the  birds ;  watching  every  thing  they  might  do ;  keeping 
in  sight  of  them  all  the  time,  wherever  they  went,  while  light 
lasted ;  then  sleeping  beneath  the  tree  where  they  perched, 
to  be  up  and  follow  them  again  with  the  dawn,  until  he  knew 
every  habit  and  way  that  belonged  to  them.  That  when  he 
was  satisfied,  he  would  shoot  them  in  some  manner,  so  as  not 
to  tear  their  plumage,  and  then  sitting  down  on  the  mossy 
roots  of  an  oak,  and  with  nobody  to  connoisseur  for  him  but 
his  wise  looking  dog,  and  the  squirrel  that  stamped  and 
scolded  at  him  from  the  limbs  above,  would  draw  such 
marvelous  pictures  of  birds  as  the  world  never  saw  before ! 

Oh,  what  a  happy,  happy  being  that  strange  man  must  be, 
I  used  to  think ;  and  what  a  strong  and  brave  one,  too,  to 
sleep  out  among  the  panthers  and  wild  cats,  where  the  Indian 
whoop  was  heard — trusting  only  to  his  single  arm  and  his 
faithful  dog.  I  loved  to  speculate  about  that  dog.  He  must 
be  larger  than  my  dog  "Milo,"  I  thought,  and  just  about  as 
gentle  and  true,  but  a  little  more  knowing.  How  I  envied 
him  the  happiness  of  such  a  master  and  such  a  life. 

As  for  the  master,  what  magical  conjurations  of  a  charmed 
fancy  I  loved  to  associate  with  him.  He  must  be  noble  and 
good,  and  wear  such  lofty  calmness  upon  his  brow.  I  had 
an  ideal  of  physical  perfection,  and  below  it  could  not  bear  to 
conceive  tnat  so  heroic  a  philosopher  could  fall. 

What  a  martyr-spirit  his  must  be ;  and  what  a  holy  enthu- 
siasm leads  him  on  through  tangled  swamps,  where  the  cougar 
yelled,  alligators  roared,  and  hideous  serpents  parted,  with 
their  wavy  spotted  lengths,  the  green  scum  of  stagnant  pools ; 
up  difficult  mountains,  where  the  rattle-snake  sprung  its 
deadly  alarum  amidst  the  mossy  fissures  of  the  crumbling 


AUDUBON — THE   HUNTER-NATURALIST.  89 

stones,  and  the  eagle  whetted  its  hooked  beak  upon  the  crag- 
points  ;  or,  beneath  the  profound  shadows  of  primeval  forests, 
where  the  few  sunbeams  that  straggled  through  at  noonday, 
looked  like  gold  dust  scattered  over  the  black  earth — down 
the  destructive  flood  of  mighty  rivers,  or  beside  crystal  lakes 
set  in  a  columnar  rim  of  giant  cypresses ;  on  the  sky-bounded 
ocean-heaved  prairies,  or  where  the  green  and  glinting  ice- 
bergs thundered  crashingly  against  the  hoar  cliffs  "  of  fretted 
Labrador,"  or  the  "  tropic  gulf"  hurled  at  the  low  "  Keys"  its 
foaming  mountains — through,  amidst,  and  over  all,  his  daunt- 
less spirit  was  passing,  led  always  by  the.  winnowing  sound 
of  wings. 

What  a  poetical  enchantment  there  was  to  me  in  such  a 
life  !  What  sights  of  awe  and  of  beauty  he  must  sec.  What 
images  of  touching  truth — of  odd,  peculiar  humors  he  must 
have  stored.  And  that  magical  power  he  was  said  to  possess, 
to  tame  in  colors  the  very  waves  upon  the  leap,  and  the  arrowy 
Albatross  upon  the  plunge  into  its  beaded  crest ! 

All  these  were  so  surprising  and  miraculous  to  me,  that  I 
•wondered,  in  my  simplicity,  whether  such  devotion  was  not 
sinful,  and  such  surpassing  works  would  not  bring  upon  their 
author  persecution  and  imprisonment  for  necromancy,  as  the 
story  books  told  had  been  the  case  of  old. 

It  seemed  to  me  too  much  bliss  and  too  many  gifts  for  a 
single  mortal  to  enjoy  !  I  felt,  not  envious ;  but  a  deep  emu- 
lation was  stirred  within  me.  I  vowed,  in  my  inmost  heart, 
that  I  would  first  see  all  those  things  for  myself,  with  my  own 
eyes ;  where  and  as  he  had  seen  them — out  upon  the  broad 
face  of  the  extended  world, — and  then  I  could  look  upon  his 
work  and  know,  with  an  appreciative  knowledge,  whether  ho 
had  wrought  these  miracles  or  not. 

This  resolve  at  once  gave  tone  to  my  after  life.  Many  a 
tie  was  rent,  and  much  agony  endured  by  my  friends,  when  I 
became  an  unreckin£  wanderer  through  wild  and  distant 

o  o 

regions.      The  uttermost   arms   of  our  tremendous   seaward 


90  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

floods  saw  me  amongst  their  springs.  The  salt  and  tumbling 
Gulf  tossed  me  upon  its  southern  shores,  and  broad  savannahs 
swelled  in  my  westward  course  into  undulating  plains ;  and 
they  yet  rose,  across  their  wearisome  breadth,  into  tall, 
rounded  hills,  that  grew  apace,  with  crags  upon  their  heads, 
until  heap  upon  heap  far  glinting  through  the  clouds,  the 
pinnacled  sharp  rocks  climbed  upwards,  and  the  vast  forest 
of  crags  spread  its  white  bloomy  tops  among  the  stars. 

My  restless  step  was  everywhere ;  my  eager  eyes  saw  all 
that  our  great  continent  could  show.  The  grizzly  bear  and 
the  tropic  bird  were  equally  known  to  me.  The  savage 
trooper  and  the  Mexican  slave  had  been  familiars,  as  well  as 
the  fierce  bandit,  and  the  stern,  simple-hearted  hunter.  Years 
of  my  earlier  manhood  passed  in  these  erratic  wanderings.  I 
had  grown  familiar  with  all  wild,  grotesque  and  lonely  crea- 
tures that  populate  those  infinite  solitudes  of  nature,  "  that 
own  not  man's  dominion."  The  vision  and  the  passions  of 
my  boyhood  still  haunted  me,  and  the  rustling  of  free  wings 
by  my  ear  yet  awakened  all  pleasant  images. 

Now,  I  felt  that  I  had  a  right  to  know  and  see,  face  to 
face,  that  remarkable  man  whose  deeds  and  life  had  so  much 
occupied  my  imagination — who  had  so  made  a  living  reality 
out  of  what  had  been  to  me  the  poetry  of  life — aye,  a  poetry 
which  had  proved  with  me,  stronger 

"  Than  stipulations,  duties,  reverences, 

and  driven  me  far  and  wide,  an  April  shadow  chased  before 
the  fitful  wind ! 

Should  I  ever  see  him  ?  The  eager  questioning  lived  about 
my  heart  whenever  I  heard  his  name.  I  returned  home,  "the 
prodigal  son,"  my  spirit  much  tamed  and  chastened  ;  yet  the 
old  leaven  fermenting  deep  beneath  the  calmer  surface. 

My  restless  steps  had  not  long  been  still.  I  became  again 
a  traveler. 

Our  boat  landed  one  morning  about  daybreak  at  Pittsburg 


AUDUBON — THE   HUNTEK-NATURALIST.  91 

— that  singular  city,  that  looks  as  if  it  had  been  built  over 
the  very  gates  of  Acheron.  Soon  as  I  made  my  appearance 
in  the  raw,  foggy  air,  upon  the  wharf,  early  as  it  was,  I  was 
surrounded  by  scores  of  "  strikers"  and  agents  of  the  different 
hotels  and  transportation  lines. 

Amidst  the  yells  and  deafening  clamors  of  contending 
claims  on  every  side,  I  permitted  myself  to  be  bodily  ravished 
into  a  coach,  and  hurried  off,  bag  and  baggage,  for — the  word 
of  the  Darky  "  Striker"  being  accepted — "the  most  splen- 
diferous hotel  in  the  city !"  As  it  happened  to  be  the  one  I 
knew,  and  had  selected  beforehand,  I  was  content  to  take  his 
definition  of  its  superlative  excellence. 

Before  I  reached  my  destination,  the  coach  was  hailed  from 
a  street  corner,  and  a  fellow,  muffled  in  a  pilot  cloth,  sprang 
in  and  took  a  seat  beside  me.  To  my  no  little  astonishment, 
he  seemed  to  take  the  most  sudden  and  peculiar  interest  in 
me,  and,  greatly  to  the  exaltation  of  my  inward  consciousness 
of  great  deserts,  plied  me  with  a  series  of  the  sharpest  ques- 
tionings as  to  my  whereabouts  "when  I  was  at  home" — my 
destination,  and  above  all,  my  route — with  the  roundest  and 
most  voluble  protestations  as  to  the  affectionate  interest  he  felt 
in  seeing  that  all  travelers,  especially  such  looking  ones  as  I 
was,  were  properly  warned  of  the  complicated  impositions  and 
knaveries  practised  habitually  upon  them,  by  the  many  trans- 
portation lines  in  this  wicked  city ;  and  to  wind  up  this  touch- 
ing exordium,  he  frankly  assured  me  that  the  "  Stage  Route" 
across  the  mountains  was  the  cheapest — the  most  safe — the 
"  most  genteelest" — and  altogether  the  route  he  would  recom- 
mend to  such  a  gentleman  as  me ! 

The  milk  of  human  kindness  was  somewhat  stirred  in  my 
veins,  responsive  to  this  gratuitous  exhibition  of  a  broad  phi- 
lanthropy— but  as  it  happened  that  I  had  determined  upon 
the  "  Canal  Route,"  I  waived,  with  the  most  thankful  acknowl- 
edgments, any  present  committal,  and  gratefully  accepted  the 


92  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

card  he  thrust  into  my  hand.  But,  as  it  most  unfortunately 
occurred,  I  found  the  office  of  the  "  Canal  Route"  for  Phila- 
delphia, &C.,,  was  next  door  to  our  hotel,  and  I  was  tempted, 
weakly  enough,  no  doubt !  to  go  in  and  book  my  name  "  clear 
through."  Insensate  creature  that  I  was.  The  canal  boats 
would  not  start  till  after  dark,  so  that  1  spent  the  hours 
allotted  to  daylight  by  the  cathedral  clocks,  in  exploring  the 
streets  of  this  dim  Cyclopian  city. 

The  incessant  clang  of  sledge-hammers  had  become  suffi- 
ciently monotonous  when  the  evening  closed  in,  and  I  was 
glad  enough  to  take  coach  and  be  transported  to  the  Canal 
Depot,  when  the  usual  vexations  and  delay  consequent,  had 
to  be  endured. 

Finally,  however,  we  got  underweigh,  with  such  a  cargo  of 
pigs,  poultry  and  humanity,  as  even  canal  boats  are  seldom 
blessed  with.  I  stood  upon  tiptoe  for  the  fresh  air  in  the 
cabin,  until  the  time  had  actually  come  when  people  must  go 
to  bed ;  when  that  awful  personage,  the  Captain,  summoned 
us  all  together,  and  informed  us  that  every  man,  woman  and 
child  aboard,  must  stow  his,  her  or  itself  away  along  the  face 
of  the  narrow  walls,  in  the  succession  of  their  registration 
during  the  day.  Now,  it  happened  that  as  gentlemen  are 
not  usually  up  before  daybreak,  that  I  stood  first  upon  the 
first  list,  and  was  of  course  entitled  to  the  first  choice  of 
hammocks.  We  panted  in  the  centre  of  the  close-jammed 
crowd,  waiting  till  the  ladies,  who  always  take  precedence  in 
America,  had  been  called  off.  As  it  happened  that  this 
right  of  choice  was  finally  definitive  for  the  route,  and  deter- 
mined whether  one  should  sleep  upon  a  hammock,  or  the 
floor,  or  the  tables,  for  several  successive  nights — it  was  a 
matter  of  no  little  moment. 

It  occurred  while  the  ladies  were  being  disposed  of,  that  I 
heard  above  the  buzz  around  me  the  name  of  Audubon  spoken. 
My  attention  was  instantly  attracted  by  that  magical  sound. 


AUDUBON — THE   HUNTER-NATURALIST.  93 

I  listened  in  breathless  eagerness.  I  heard  a  gentleman  near 
me  say — "  Mr.  Audubon  is  last  on  the  list ;  I  fear  he  Trill  not 
get  a  bed,  we  are  so  crowded !" 

I  felt  my  heart  leap. 

"What,"  said  I,  leaning  forward  quickly,  "is  it  possible 
Mr.  Audubon  can  be  aboard  ?  I  thought  he  was  still  on  his 
Rocky  Mountain  tour !" 

"We  are  just  returning,  sir,"  said  the  gentleman  court- 
eously, half  smiling,  as  he  observed  the  excited  expression  of 
my  face. 

"But,  you  are  joking,  are  you  not?"  said  I,  hardly  able  to 
realize  so  much  happiness.  He  cannot  really  be  in  this  boat. 
Where  ?  Which  is  he  ?" 

"  He  is  actually  in  this  very  cabin,"  said  he,  turning  full 
upon  me. 

"  The  man  of  all  others  in  the  world  I  wanted  to  see  most," 
I  ejaculated,  half  inwardly. 

"  Well,  there  he  is,"  said  the  gentleman,  laughing,  as  he 
pointed  to  a  Xuge  pile  of  green  blankets  and  fur  which  I  had 
before  observed  stretched  upon  one  of  the  benches,  and  took 
to  be  the  fat  bale  of  some  Western  trader. 

"  What,  that  Mr.  Audubon  ?"  I  exclaimed,  naively. 

"  Yes  ;  he  is  taking  a  nap." 

At  that  moment  my  name  was  called  out  by  the  Captain 
as  entitled  to  the  first  choice  of  berths. 

"  I  waive  my  right  of  choice  in  favor  of  Mr.  Audubon," 
was  my  answer. 

Now  the  green  bale  stirred  a  little — half  turned  upon  its 
narrow  resting-place,  and,  after  awhile,  sat  erect,  and  showed 
me,  to  my  no  small  surprise,  that  there  was  a  man  inside 
.fit. 

A  patriarchal  beard  fell,  white  and  wavy,  down  his  breast ; 
a  pair  of  hawk-like  eyes  gleamed  sharply  out  from  the  fuzzy 
shroud  of  cap  and  collar. 

I  drew  near,  with  a  thrill  of  irrepressible  curiosity.     The 


94  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

moment  my  eyes  took  in  the  noble  contour  of  that  Roman 
face,  I  felt  that  it  was  he,  and  could  be  no  one  else.  Yes,  it 
was  Audubon  in  his  wilderness  garb,  hale  and  alert,  with 
sixty  winters  upon  his  shoulders,  as  one  of  his  own  "  old 
eagles,  feathered  to  the  heel," — fresh  from  where  the  floods 
are  cradled  amid  crag-piled  glooms,  or  flowery  extended 
plains ! 

He  looked  as  I  had  dreamed  the  antique  Plato  must  have 
looked,  with  that  fine,  classic  head  and  lofty  mien !  He 
fully  realized  the  hero  of  the  ideal.  With  what  eager  and 
affectionate  admiration  I  gazed  upon  him,  the  valorous  and 
venerable  Sage ! 

What  a  deathless  and  beautiful  dedication  his  had  been  to 
the  holy  priesthood  of  nature  !  I  felt  that  the  very  hem  of 
his  garments — of  that  rusty  and  faded  green  blanket,  ought 
to  be  sacred  t  all  devotees  of  science,  and  was  so  to  me. 

What  an  indomitable  flame,  that  not 

"  The  wreakful  siege  of  battering  years" 

could  qu,ll,  must  fire  that  heroic  heart.  To  think,  that  now, 
when  "  TL^e  had  delved  its  parallels  upon  his  brow" — when 
lie  had  ulreidy  accomplished  the  most  Herculean  labor  of  the 
age  in  his  "Birds  of  America" — still  unsatisfied,  he  should 
undertake  a  new,  and  as  grand  a  work,  upon  the  animals ; 
and  now  h*  was  returning  with  the  trophies  of  science  gath- 
ered on  his  toilsome  and  dangerous  journey  ings  ! 

Ah,  how  I  venerated  him !  How  I  longed  to  know  him, 
and  to  be  permitted  to  sit  at  his  feet  and  learn,  and  hear  his 
own  lips  discourse  of  those  loveable  themes  which  had  so 
absorbed  my  life. 

I  scarcely  slept  that  night,  for  my  brain  was  teeming  with 
novel  and  happy  images.  I  determined  to  stretch  to  the 
utmost  the  traveller's  license,  and  approach  him  in  the  morn- 
ing. My  happy  fortune  in  having  been  able  to  make  the 
"  surrender  "  in  his  favor,  assisted  me,  or  else  his  quick  eye 


AUDUBON — THE   HUNTER-NATURALIST.  95 

detected  at  once  the  sympathy  of  our  tastes ;  be  that  as  it 
may,  we  were  soon  on  good  terms. 

Like  all  men  who  have  lived  much  apart  with  nature,  he 
was  not  very  talkative.  His  conversation  was  impulsive  and 
fragmentary : — that,  taken  together  with  a  mellow  Gallic 
idiom,  rendered  his  style  pleasingly  titilating  to  a  curious 
listener,  as  I  was  eager  to  get  at  his  stores  of  knowledge,  and 
compare  my  own  diffuse  but  extended  observation  with  his 
profound  accuracy. 

The  hours  of  that  protracted  journey  glided  by  as  in  a 
dream.  I  was  forever  at  his  side,  catching  with  a  delighted 
eagerness  at  those  characteristic  scraps  that  fv.ll  from  his 
lips. 

I  was  anxious  to  obtain  an  accurate  insight  into  the  man — 
the  individual.  I  found  rather  more  of  the  man  of  the  world 
about  him,  than  I  was  inclined  to  expect,  though  every  inch 
of  him  was  symmetrical  with  his  character  of  naturalist,  and 
many  inches  are  there  in  that,  growing  through  tall  cubits 
into  the  Titanic  girth. 

He  had  several  new  and  curious  animals  along  with  him, 
which  he  had  taken  in  those  distant  wilds  where  I  had  myself 
seen  them  in  their  freedom,  and  now  they  looked  like  old 
acquaintances  to  me ;  and  I  soon  got  up  an  intimacy  with  the 
swift  Fox,  the  snarling  Badger  and  the  Rocky  Mountain 
Deer.  He  exhibited  to  me  some  of  the  original  drawings  of 
the  splendid  work  on  the  Zoology  of  the  continent,  which  his 
sons  are  now  engaged  in  bringing  out.  I  recognized  in  them 
the  miraculous  pencil  of  the  "Birds  of  America."  But  I 
observed  several  personal  traits  that  interested  me  very  much. 

The  confinement  we  were  subjected  to  on  board  the  canal 
boat,  was  very  tiresome  to  his  habits  of  freedom.  We  used 
to  get  ashore  and  walk  for  hours  along  the  tow-path  ahead 
of  the  boat ;  and  I  observed,  with  astonishment,  that,  though 
over  sixty,  he  could  walk  me  down  with  ease. 

Now,  I  was  something  of  a  walker,  and  was  not  very  far 


96  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTEKS. 

advanced  in  years,  and  though  I  do  not  exactly  affect  tho 
nimbleness  of  Cleopatra,  who  was  seen  to 

"  Hop  forty  paces  through  the  public  street," 

yet  I  pretend  to  very  respectable  ambulatory  powers.  Th  ugh, 
I  say,  I  would  not  enter  in  a  match  with  Gildersleeve,  CoL 
Stannard,  Kit  North,  John  Neal,  or  anybody  else  who  has 
pedcstrinated  himself  into  an  Olympic  Crown ;  yet  I  do  set 
up  to  be  a  walker,  and  I  was  not  a  little  confounded  at  seeing 
this  old  man  leave  me,  panting  to  the  leeward. 

His  physical  energies  seemed  entirely  unimpaired.  Another 
striking  evidence  of  this  he  gave  me.  A  number  of  us  wei\> 
standing  grouped  around  him,  on  the  top  of  the  boat,  ono 
clear  sunshiny  morning ;  we  were  at  the  same  time  passing 
through  a  broken  and  very  picturesque  region;  his  kee.i  eyes, 
with  an  abstracted,  intense  expression,  an  expression  of  looking 
over  the  heads  of  men  around  him,  out  into  nature,  peculiar 
to  them,  were  glancing  over  the  scenery  as  we  ^li  led  through, 
when  suddenly  he  pointed  with  his  finger  towards  the  fenco 
of  a  field,  several  hundred  yards  off,  with  the  exclamation, — 

"  See !  yonder  is  a  Fox  Squirrel,  running  along  the  top 
rail !  It  is  not  often  I  have  seen  them  in  Pennsylvania  !" 

Now  his  power  of  vision  must  have  been  singularly  acute, 
to  have  distinguished  that  it,  was  a  Fox  Sq1  irrel  at  such  a 
distance  ;  for  only  myself  and  one  other  person  out  of  a  dozen 
or  two,  who  were  looking  in  the  same  direction,  detected  the 
creature  at  all,  and  we  could  barely  distinguish  that  there 
was  some  object  moving  on  the  rail.  I  asked  hi.  i  curiously, 
if  he  w;is  sure  of  its  being  a  Fox  Squirrel.  He  smiled,  and 
flashed  his  hawk-like  glance  upon  me,  as  he  ai  swercd ; 

"  Ah,  I  have  an  Indian's  eye  !"  And  I  had  only  to  look  into 
it  to  feel  that  he  had. 

These  arc  slight  but  peculiar  traits,  in  perfect  keeping  with 
his  general  characteristics,  as  the  naturalist  and  the  man. 
Of  course,  I  never  permitted  that  acquaintance  to  fall  through, 


AUDUBON — THE  HUNTER-NATURALIST.  97 

•while  he  lived,  and  amidst  the  many  and  -wearisome  vicissi- 
tudes which  have  befallen  since,  I  have  retained  fresh  and 
unimpaired  the  memory  of  that  journey  through  the  moun- 
tains, as  one  of  the  green  places  of  the  past,  where  the  sun- 
light always  lives. 

Thus  it  was  I  came  first  to  meet  him,  laurelled  and  grey, 
my  highest  ideal  of  the  Hunter-Naturalist, — the  old  Audubon ! 
Ah,  the  grandeur  of  that  man's  life  !  though  it  had  filled  my 
own  with  poetic  yearnings  in  my  youth,  yet  they  have  lost 
nothing  in  fire  and  earnest  upward  through  my  maturer 
age  !  Now  that  he  is  dead,  and  I  can  look  upon  his  career  with 
sobered  vision,  undazzled  by  the  prestige  of  presence,  un- 
biassed by  personal  affection,  and  from  the  stand-point  of 
wide  experience  and  comparison  with  other  men,  still  I  can 
speak  of  as  a  reality  what  was  once  more  like  the  thought  of  a 
boy's  daydream, — that  in  all  the  world's  history  of  wonderful 
men,  there  is  not  to  my  mind  one  story  of  life  so  filled  with 
beautiful  romance  as  this  of  J.  J.  Audubon,  considered  in  the 
mere  deatils  of  its  facts.  Take  them  in  his  own  simple  words 
as  furnished  by  himself  incidentally,  in  the  text  of  his  great 
work,  and  what  a  wondrous  tale  it  is  ! 

We  will  hear  then  from  his  own  lips  something  of  how 
the  greatest  of  the  Hunter-Naturalists  was  developed,  catch 
glimpses  of  the  boy-Audubon,  artlessly  conveyed  through  his 
own  memories  and  impressions  of  early  scenes,  yearnings 
and  impressions,  up  to  the  period  of  manly  achievement ;  of 
doubts,  of  failure,  and  finally  of  gloriously  consummated  tri- 
umph !  In  his  charming  preface  to  the  Biography  of  Birds, 
written  the  March  of  1831,  he  says  of  himself: — 

I  received  life  and  light  in  the  New  World.  When  I  had 
hardly  yet  learned  to  walk,  and  to  articulate  those  first  words 
always  so  endearing  to  parents,  the  productions  of  Nature 
that  lay  spread  all  around,  were  constantly  pointed  out  to 
me.  They  soon  became  my  playmates  ;  and  before  my  ideas 
were  sufficiently  formed  to  enable  me  to  estimate  the  differ- 

7 


98  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

ence  between  the  azure  tints  of  the  sky,  and  the  emerald  hue 
of  the  bright  foliage,  I  felt  that  an  intimacy  with  them,  not 
consisting  of  friendship  merely,  but  bordering  on  phrenzy, 
must  accompany  my  steps  through  life; — and  now,  more 
than  ever,  am  I  persuaded  of  the  power  of  those  early  im- 
pressions. They  laid  such  hold  upon  me,  that,  when  removed 
from  the  woods,  the  prairies  and  the  brooks,  or  shut  up  from 
the  view  of  the  wide  Atlantic,  I  experienced  none  of  those 
pleasures  most  congenial  to  my  mind.  None  but  aerial  com- 
panions suited  my  fancy.  No  roof  seemed  so  secure  to  me 
as  that  formed  of  the  dense  foliage  under  which  the  feathered 
tribes  were  seen  to  resort,  or  the  caves  and  fissures  of  the 
massy  rocks  to  which  the  dark-winged  Cormorant  and  the 
Curlew  retired  to  rest,  or  to  protect  themselves  from  the  fury 
of  the  tempest.  My  father  generally  accompanied  my  steps, 
procured  birds  and  flowers  for  me  with  great  eagerness, — 
pointed  out  the  elegant  movements  of  the  former,  the  beauty 
and  softness  of  their  plumage,  the  manifestations  of  their 
pleasure  or  sense  of  danger, — and  the  always  perfect  forms 
and  splendid  attire  of  the  latter.  My  valued  preceptor  would 
then  speak  of  the  departure  and  return  of  birds  with  the 
seasons,  would  describe  their  haunts,  and,  more  wonderful 
than  all,  their  change  of  livery;  thus  exciting  me  to  study 
them,  and  to  raise  my  mind  towards  their  great  Creator. 

A  vivid  pleasure  shone  upon  those  days  of  my  early  youth, 
attended  with  a  calmness  of  feeling,  that  seldom  failed  to 
rivet  my  attention  for  hours,  whilst  I  gazed  in  ecstacy  upon 
the  pearly  and  shining  eggs,  as  they  lay  imbedded  in  the 
softest  down,  or  among  dried  leaves  and  twigs,  or  were  ex- 
posed upon  the  burning  sand  or  weather-beaten  rock  of  our 
Atlantic  shores.  I  was  taught  to  look  upon  them  as  flowers 
yet  in  the  bud.  I  watched  their  opening,  to  see  how  Nature 
had  provided  each  different  species  with  eyes,  either  open  at 
birth,  or  closed  for  some  time  after ;  to  trace  the  slow  progress 
yf  the  young  birds  toward  perfection,  or  admire  the  celerity 


AUDUBON — THE   HUNTER-NATURALIST.  99 

with  which  some  of  them,  while  yet  unfledged,  removed  them- 
selves from  danger  to  security. 

I  grew  up,  and  my  wishes  grew  with  my  form.  Those 
wishes,  kind  reader,  were  for  the  entire  possession  of  all  that  I 
saw.  I  was  fervently  desirous  of  becoming  acquainted  with 
Nature.  For  many  years,  however,  I  was  sadly  disappointed, 
and  forever,  doubtless,  must  I  have  desires  that  can  ot  be 
gratified.  The  moment  a  bird  was  dead,  however  beautiful 
it  had  been  when  in  life,  the  pleasure  arising  from  tho  pos- 
session of  it  became  blunted ;  and  although  the  greatest  cares 
were  bestowed  in  endeavors  to  preserve  the  appearance  of 
nature,  I  looked  upon  its  vesture  as  more  than  sullied,  as 
requiring  constant  attention  and  repeated  mendings,  while, 
after  all,  it  could  no  longer  be  said  to  be  fresh  from  the 
hands  of  its  Maker.  I  wished  to  possess  all  the  productions 
of  nature,  but  I  wished  life  with  them.  This  was  imposs.  ble. 
Then  what  was  to  be  done  ?  I  turned  to  my  father,  and 
made  known  to  him  my  disappointment  and  anxiety.  He 
produced  a  book  of  Illustrations.  A.  new  life  ran  in  my 
veins.  I  turned  over  the  leaves  with  avidity ;  and  although 
what  I  saw  was  not  what  I  longed  for,  it  gave  me  a  desire  to 
copy  Nature.  To  Nature  I  went,  and  tried  to  imitate  her, 
as  in  the  days  of  my  childhood  I  had  tried  to  raise  myself 
from  the  ground  and  stand  erect,  before  Nature  had  imparted 
the  vigor  necessary  for  the  success  of  such  an  undertaking. 

How  sorely  disappointed  did  I  feel  for  many  years,  when 
I  saw  that  my  productions  were  worse  than  those  which  1 
ventured  (perhaps  in'  silence)  to  regard  as  bad,  in  the  book 
given  me  by  my  father !  My  pencil  gave  birth  to  a  family 
of  cripples.  So  maimed  were  most  of  them,  that  they  re- 
sembled the  mangled  corpses  on  a  field  of  battle,  compared 
with  the  integrity  of  living  men.  These  difficulties  and  dis- 
appointments irritated  me,  but  never  for  a  moment  destroyed 
the  desire  of  obtaining  perfect  representations  of  nature. — 
The  worse  my  drawings  were,  the  more  beautiful  did  I  see  the 


100  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

originals.  To  have  been  torn  from  the  study  would  have 
been  as  death  to  me.  My  time  was  entirely  occupied  with 
it.  I  produced  hundreds  of  these  rude  sketches  annually ; 
and  for  a  long  time,  at  my  request,  they  made  bonfires  on 
the  anniversaries  of  my  birth-day. 

Patiently,  and  with  industry,  did  I  apply  myself  to  study, 
for,  although  I  felt  the  impossibility  of  giving  life  to  my  pro- 
ductions, I  did  not  abandon  the  idea  of  representing  nature. 
Many  plans  were  successively  adopted,  many  masters  guided 
my  hand.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  when  I  returned  from 
France,  whither  I  had  gone  to  receive  the  rudiments  of  my 
education,  my  drawings  had  assumed  a  form.  DAVID  had 
guided  my  hand  in  tracing  objects  of  large  size.  Eyes  and 
noses  belonging  to  giants,  and  heads  of  horses  represented  in 
ancient  sculpture,  were  my  models.  These,  although  fit  sub- 
jects for  men  intent  on  pursuing  the  higher  branches  of  the 
art,  were  immediately  laid  aside  by  me.  I  returned  to  the 
woods  of  the  New  "World  with  fresh  ardor,  and  commenced  a 
collection  of  drawings,  which  I  henceforth  continued,  and 
which  is  now  publishing  under  the  title  of  "  THE  BIRDS  OF 
AMERICA." 

In  Pennsylvania,  a  beautiful  State,  almost  central  on  the 
line  of  our  Atlantic  shores,  my  father,  in  his  desire  of  proving 
my  friend  through  life,  gave  me  what  Americans  call  a  beau- 
tiful '  plantation,'  refreshed  during  the  summer  heats  by  the 
waters  of  the  Schuylkill  river,  and  traversed  by  a  creek 
named  Perkioming.  Its  fine  woodlands,  its  extensive  fields, 
its  hills  crowned  with  evergreens,  offered  many  subj  cts  to 
my  pencil.  It  was  there  that  I  commenced  my  simple  and 
agreeable  studies,  with  as  little  concern  about  the  future  as 
if  the  world  had  been  made  for  me.  My  rambles  inv?  'ably 
commenced  at  break  of  day ;  and  to  return  wet  with  dew,  and 
bearing  a  feathered  prize,  was,  and  ever  will  be,  the  highest 
enjoyment  for  which  I  have  been  fitted. 

Yet,  think  not,  reader,  that  the  enthusiasm  which  I  felt  for 


AUDUBON — THE   HUNTER-NATURALIST.  101 

my  favorite  pursuits  was  a  barrier  opposed  to  the  admission 
of  gentler  sentiments.  Nature,  which  had  turned  my  young 
mind  toward  the  bird  and  the  flower,  soon  proved  her  influ- 
ence upon  my  heart.  Be  it  enough  to  say,  that  the  object 
of  my  passion  has  long  since  blessed  me  with  the  name  of 
husband.  And  now  let  us  return,  for  who  cares  to  listen  to 
the  love-tale  of  a  naturalist,  whose  feelings  may  be  supposed 
to  be  as  light  as  the  feathers  which  he  delineates ! 

For  a  period  of  nearly  twenty  years,  my  life  was  a  succes- 
sion of  vicissitudes.  I  tried  various  branches  of  commerce, 
but  they  all  proved  unprofitable,  doubtless  because  my  whole 
mind  was  ever  filled  with  my  passion  for  rambling  and  ad- 
miring those  objects  of  nature  from  which  alone  I  received 
the  purest  gratification.  I  had  to  struggle  against  the  will 
of  all  who  at  that  period  called  themselves  my  friends.  I 
must  here,  however,  except  my  wife  and  children.  The  re- 
marks of  my  other  friends  irritated  me  beyond  endurance, 
and,  breaking  through  all  bonds,  I  gave  myself  entirely  up 
to  my  pursuits.  Any  one  acquainted  with  the  extraordinary 
desire  which  I  then  felt  of  seeing  and  judging  for  myself, 
would  doubtless  have  pronounced  me  callous  to  every  sense 
of  duty,  and  regardless  of  every  interest.  I  undertook  long 
and  tedious  journeys,  ransacked  the  woods,  the  lakes,  the 
prairies,  and  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic.  Years  were  spent 
away  from  my  family.  Yet,  reader,  will  you  believe  it,  I 
had  no  other  object  in  view,  than  simply  to  enjoy  the  sight 
of  nature.  Never  for  a  moment  did  I  conceive  the  hope  of 
becoming  in  any  degree  useful  to  my  kind,  until  I  accidentally 
formed  acquaintance  with  the  PRINCE  OF  MUSIGNANO,  at  Phi- 
ladelphia, to  which  place  I  went,  with  the  view  of  proceeding 

eastward  along  the  coast. 

*  *  *  * 

In  April,  1824,  he  sought  for  patronage  in  Philadelphia, 
and  failing  there,  went  to  New  York,  with  some  better  suc- 
cess ;  but  weary  and  depressed,  on  the  whole,  he  returned  to 


102  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

nature  for  refreshing,  and,  ascending  that  noble  stream,  the 
Hudson,  glided  over  our  broad  lakes,  to  seek  the  wildest  soli- 
tudes of  the  pathless  and  gloomy  forests. 

It  was  in  these  forests  that,  for  the  first  time,  I  communed 
with  myself  as  to  the  possible  event  of  my  visiting  Europe 
again ;  and  I  began  to  fancy  my  work  under  the  multiplying 
efforts  of  the  graver.  Happy  days,  and  nights  of  pleasing 
dreams !  I  read  over  the  catalogue  of  my  collection,  and 
thought  how  it  might  be  possible  for  an  unconnected  and  un- 
aided individual  like  myself  to  accomplish  the  grand  scheme. 

Eighteen  months  elapsed.  I  returned  to  my  family,  then 
in  Louisiana,  explored  every  portion  of  the  vast  woods  around, 
and  at  last  sailed  towards  the  Old  World.  But  before  we 
visit  the  shores  of  hospitable  England,  I  have  the  wish,  good- 
natured  reader,  to  give  you  some  idea  of  my  mode  of  executing 
the  original  drawings,  from  which  the  illustrations  have  been 
taken ;  and  I  sincerely  hope  that  the  perusal  of  these  lines 
may  excite  in  you  a  desire  minutely  to  examine  them. 

Merely  to  say  that  each  object  of  my  illustrations  is  of  the 
size  of  nature,  were  too  vague — for  to  many  it  might  only 
convey  the  idea  that  they  are  so,  more  or  less,  according  as 
the  eye  of  the  delineator  may  have  been  more  or  less  correct 
in  measurement  simply  obtained  through  that  medium;  and 
of  avoiding  error  in  this  respect  I  am  particularly  desirous. 
Not  only  is  every  object,  as  a  whole,  of  the  natural  size,  but 
also  every  portion  of  each  object.  The  compass  aided  me  in 
its  delineation,  regulated  and  corrected  each  part,  even  to  the 
very  fore-shortening  which  now  and  then  may  be  seen  in  the 
figures.  The  bill,  the  feet,  the  legs,  the  claws,  the  very 
feathers  as  they  project  one  beyond  another,  have  been  accu- 
rately measured.  The  birds,  almost  all  of  them,  were  killed 
by  myself,  after  I  had  examined  their  motions  and  habits,  as 
much  as  the  case  admitted,  and  were  regularly  drawn  on  or 
near  the  spot  where  I  procured  them.  The  positions  may, 
perhaps,  in  some  instances  appear  outre;  but  such  supposed 


4UDUBON — THE   HUNTER-NATUEALIST.  103 

exaggerations  can  afford  subject  of  criticism  only  to  persons 
unacquainted  with  the  feathered  tribes ;  for,  believe  me,  no- 
thing can  be  more  transient  or  varied  than  the  attitudes  or 
positions  of  birds.  The  Heron,  when  warming  itself  in  the 
sun,  will  sometimes  drop  its  wings  several  inches,  as  if  they 
were  dislocated ;  the  Swan  may  often  be  seen  floating  with 
one  foot  extended  from  the  body ;  and  some  pigeons,  you 
well  know,  turn  quite  over,  when  playing  in  the  air.  The 
flowers,  plants,  or  portions  of  trees  which  are  attached  to  the 
principal  objects,  have  been  chosen  from  amongst  those  in  the 
vicinity  of  which  the  birds  were  found,  and  are  not,  as  some 
persons  have  thought,  the  trees  or  plants  upon  which  they 
always  feed  or  perch. 

An  accident  which  happened  to  two  hundred  of  my  original 
drawings,  nearly  put  a  stop  to  my  researches  in  ornithology. 
I  shall  relate  it,  merely  to  show  you  how  far  enthusiasm — for 
by  no  other  name  can  I  call  the  persevering  zeal  with  which 
I  labored — may  enable  the  observer  of  nature  to  surmount 
the  most  disheartening  obstacles.  I  left  the  village  of  Hen- 
derson, in  Kentucky,  situated  on  the  bank  of  the  Ohio,  where 
I  resided  for  several  years,  to  proceed  to  Philadelphia  on 
business.  I  looked  to  all  my  drawings  before  my  departure, 
placed  them  carefully  in  a  wooden  box,  and  gave  them  in 
charge  to  a  relative,  with  injunctions  to  see  that  no  injury 
should  happen  to  them.  My  absence  was  of  several  months  ; 
and  when  I  returned,  after  having  enjoyed  the  pleasures  of 
home  for  a  few  days,  I  inquired  after  my  box,  and  what  I 
was  pleased  to  call  my  treasure.  The  box  was  produced,  and 
opened; — but,  reader,  feel  for  me — a  pair  of  Norway  rats 
had  taken  possession  of  the  whole,  and  had  reared  a  young 
family  amongst  the  gnawed  bits  of  paper,  which,  but  a  few 
months  before,  represented  nearly  a  thousand  inhabitants  of 
the  air ! 

The  burning  heat  which  instantly  rushed  through  my  brain 
was  too  great  to  be  endured,  without  affecting  the  whole  of 


104  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

my  nervous  system.  I  slept  not  for  several  nights,  and  the 
days  passed  like  days  of  oblivion, — until,  the  animal  powers 
being  recalled  into  action,  through  the  strength  of  my  consti- 
tution, I  took  up  my  gun,  my  note-book  and  my  pencils,  and 
went  forth  to  the  wocds  as  gaily  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 
I  felt  pleased  that  I  might  now  make  much  better  drawings 
than  before,  and,  ere  a  period  not  exceeding  three  years  had 
elapsed,  I  had  my  portfolio  filled  again. 

America  being  my  country,  and  the  principal  pleasures  of 
my  life  having  been  obtained  there,  I  prepared  to  leave  it 
with  deep  sorrow,  after  in  vain  trying  to  publish  my  illustra- 
tions in  the  United  States.  In  Philadelphia,  Wilson's  prin- 
cipal engraver,  amongst  others,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  to  my 
friends,  that  my  drawings  could  never  be  engraved.  In  New 
York,  other  difficulties  presented  themselves,  which  deter- 
mined me  to  carry  my  collections  to  Europe. 

As  I  approached  the  coast  of  England,  and  for  the  first 
time  beheld  her  fertile  shores,  the  despondency  of  my  spirits 
became  very  great.  I  knew  not  an  individual  in  the  country ; 
and,  although  I  was  the  bearer  of  letters  from  American 
friends  and  statesmen  of  great  eminence,  my  situation  ap- 
peared precarious  in  the  extreme.  I  imagined  that  every 
individual  whom  I  was  about  to  meet,  might  be  possessed  of 
talents  superior  to  those  of  any  on  our  side  of  the  Atlantic  ! 
Indeed,  as  I  for  the  first  time  walked  on  the  streets  of  Liver- 
pool, my  heart  nearly  failed  me,  for  not  a  glance  of  sympathy 
did  I  meet  in  my  wanderings,  for  two  days  To  the  woods  I 
could  not  betake  myself,  for  there  were  none  near. 

Well  received  in  England,  he  passes  througli  to  Scotland. 

Gallant  and  beautiful  spirit !  there  was  no  need  of  woods 
for  thee  to  hide  !  The  noble  work  of  Wilson  had  not  lon^ 

O 

been  finished  then,  and  men  were  not  done  wondering  at  this 
glorious  achievement  of  the  Faisely  weaver,  who  had  left  their 
own  shores  years  ago,  a  poor  and  obscure  adventurer  for  the 
forests  of  the  New  World,  when  another  pilgrim  from  those 


AUDUBON — THE   HUNTER-NATURALIST.  105 

far  wildernesses,  made  his  appearance  among  the  learned 
circles  of  the  Scottish  Capital.  He  carried  a  p  irtfolio  under 
his  arm,  and  came,  too,  on  an  adventure  to  this  seat  of  the 
mind's  royalty  and  of  voluptuous  wealth.  There  was  a  look 
of  nature's  children  about  him.  His  curled  and  shining  hair, 
thrown  back  from  his  open  front,  fell  in  dark  clusters  down 
his  broad  shoulders.  Those  bold  features,  moulded  after 

"  The  high,  old  Roman  fashion" — 

those  sharp,  steady  eyes,  that  straight  figure  and  elastic 
tread,  were  a  strange  blending  of  the  Red  man  and  the  pure- 
blooded  noble.  A  curious  trader  he !  But,  when  his  won- 
drous wares  were  all  unfolded  and  spread  out  before  their 
eyes,  what  a  delicious  thrilling  of  amazement  and  delight 
was  felt  through  those  fastidious  circles '!  A  gorgeous  show  ! 
The  heart  of  a  virgin  world  unfolded — teeming  with  rare  and 
exquisite  thoughts — that  had  been  born  in  the  deep  solitudes 
of  her  young  musings,  and  thus  caught  by  this  weird  en- 
chanter's pencil,  as  they  gleamed  past  in  all  the  bright  hues 
and  airy  graces  of  their  fresh  fleeting  lives — with  flower  and 
tree,  and  rock  and  wave,  as  beautiful  and  new  as  they,  thrown 
in  to  make  the  fairy  pageant  real !  It  was  a  surprising  reve- 
lation, and  when  they  knew  that  it  had  all  been  the  work — 
the  obscure,  unaided  work,  through  years  of  enduring  toil — of 
that  young  wanderer,  they  were  filled  with  overwhelming  admi- 
ration. They  loaded  him  with  adulation  and  with  honors ; 
they  took  him  by  the  hand  generously,  and  led  him  up  to  his 
success. 

Such  was  the  effect  of  Audubon's  appearance  in  Edinburgh. 
In  that  glorious  portfolio  men  felt  that  a  great  creation  lay 
folded ;  in  that  modest  backwoodsman  they  saw  the  first  of  the 
Hunter-Naturalists — in  the  simple  grandeur  of  that  presence 
they  recognized  the  type  of  those  masterful  spirits  of  the  race 
of  the  olden  time,  the  stories  of  whose  deeds  are  the  histories  of 
ages.  They  were  awed,  they  loved  him — they  nourished  and 


106  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

they  cherished  him — how  could  it  be  otherwise  among  a  culti- 
vated people  ? — for  to  such  there  is  in  genius  a  compelling 
sense  that  will  bear  through  its  purposes  in  their  love. 

But  it  is  not  on  his  triumphal  progress  through  Europe, 
that  we  prefer  to  accompany  him.  Nor  is  it  of  so  much  inte- 
rest to  us  to  hear  that  such  men  as  Cuvier  and  Humboldt — 
who  alone  were  his  peers — pronounced  his  work  on  Birds  the 
most  magnificent  monument  art  had  yet  erected  to  ornitho- 
logy. The  world  has  long  ago  taken  charge  of  his  fame.  It 
is  of  the  man,  the  Hunter-Naturalist,  out  in  the  wilderness 
highways  and  byways  of  the  unreclaimed  earth  that  we  would 
know  more  intimately.  It  is  rather  the  methods  of  the  work- 
man that  we  would  now  see — for  it  is  well  enough  known  that 
never,  in  the  annals  of  individual  achievement,  did  unaided 
enthusiasm,  through  poverty  and  neglect,  accomplish  so  much 
single-handed  against  such  tremendous  odds. 

The  world,  by  the  way,  has  been  told  many  times  of  the  im- 
mense pecuniary  difficulties  to  be  overcome  by  him  from  the 
commencement — but  not  yet,  perhaps,  in  his  own  touching 
language,  have  they  heard  some  of  the  effects  of  these  struggles 
upon  his  temper  and  feelings.  He  says  in  the  introduction 
to  the  third  volume — 

Ten  years  have  now  elapsed  since  the  first  number  of  my 
Illustrations  of  the  Birds  of  America  made  its  appearance. 
At  that  period  I  calculated  that  the  engravers  would  take 
sixteen  years  in  accomplishing  their  task  ;  and  this  I  announed 
in  my  prospectus,  and  talked  of  to  my  friends.  Of  the  latter 
not  a  single  individual  seemed  to  have  the  least  hope  of  my 
success,  and  several  strongly  advised  me  to  abandon  my  plans, 
dispose  of  my  drawings,  and  return  to  my  country.  I  listened 
with  attention  to  all  that  was  urged  on  the  subject,  and  often 
felt  deeply  depressed,  for  I  was  well  aware  of  many  of  the 
difficulties  to  be  surmounted,  and  perceived  that  no  small 
sum  of  money  would  be  required  to  defray  the  necessary 
expenses.  Yet  never  did  I  seriously  think  of  abandoning  the 


AUDUBON — THE  HUNTER-NATURALIST.  107 

cherished  object  of  my  hopes.  When  I  delivered  the  first 
drawings  to  the  engraver,  I  had  not  a  single  subscriber. 
Those  who  knew  me  best  called  me  rash ;  some  wrote  to  me 
that  they  did  not  expect  to  see  a  second  fasciculus ;  and  others 
seemed  to  anticipate  the  total  failure  of  my  enterprise.  But 
my  heart  was  nerved,  and  my  reliance  on  that  Power,  on 
whom  all  must  depend,  brought  bright  anticipations  of  success. 

Having  made  arrangements  for  meeting  the  first  difficulties, 
I  turned  my  attention  to  the  improvement  of  my  drawings, 
and  began  to  collect  from  the  pages  of  my  journals  the  scat- 
tered notes  which  referred  to  the  habits  of  the  birds  repre- 
sented by  them.  I  worked  early  and  late,  and  glad  I  was  to 
perceive  that  the  more  I  labored  the  more  I  improved.  I 
was  happy,  too,  to  find,  that  in  general  each  succeeding  plate 
was  better  than  its  predecessor,  and  when  those  who  had  at 
first  endeavored  to  dissuade  me  from  undertaking  so  vast  an 
enterprise,  complimented  me  on  my  more  favorable  prospects, 
I  could  not  but  feel  happy.  Number  after  number  appeared 
in  regular  succession,  until  at  the  end  of  four  years  of  anxiety, 
my  engraver,  Mr.  Havell,  presented  me  with  the  First  Volume 
of  the  Birds  of  America. 

Convinced,  from  a  careful  comparison  of  the  plates,  that  at 
least  there  had  been  no  falling  off  in  the  execution,  I  looked 
forward  with  confidence  to  the  termination  of  the  next  four 
years'  labor.  Time  passed  on,  and  I  returned  from  the 
forests  and  wilds  of  the  western  world  to  congratulate  my 
friend  Havell,  just  when  the  last  plate  of  the  second  volume 
was  finished. 

About  that  time,  a  nobleman  called  upon  me  with  his 
family,  and  requested  me  to  show  them  some  of  the  original 
drawings,  which  I  did  with  the  more  pleasure  that  my  visitors 
possessed  a  knowledge  of  Ornithology.  In  the  course  of  our 
conversation,  I  was  asked  how  long  it  might  be  until  the 
work  should  be  finished.  When  I  mentioned  eight  years 
more,  the  nobleman  shrugged  up  his  shoulders,  and  sighing. 


108  "WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

said,  "  I  may  not  sec  it  finished,  but  my  children  will,  and 
you  may  please  to  add  my  name  to  your  list  of  subscribers." 
The  young  people  exhibited  a  mingled  expression  of  joy  and 
sorrow,  and  when  I  with  them  strove  to  dispel  the  cloud  that 
seemed  to  hang  over  their  father's  mind,  he  smiled,  bade  me 
be  sure  to  see  that  the  whole  work  should  be  punctually  de- 
livered, and  took  his  leave.  The  solemnity  of  his  manner  I 
could  not  forget  for  several  days ;  I  often  thought  that  neither 
might  I  see  the  work  completed,  but  at  length  I  exclaimed, 
"My  sons  may."  And  now  that  another  volume,  both  of  my 
Illustrations  and  of  my  Biographies  is  finished,  my  trust  in 
Providence  is  augmented,  and  I  cannot  but  hope  that  myself 
and  my  family  together  may  be  permitted  to  see  the  comple- 
tion of  my  labors. 

How  that  prayer  has  been  answered,  the  facts  since,  with 
which  the  world  is  familiar,  have  shown.  He  obtained  one 
hundred  and  eighty  subscribers  to  the  work  at  one  thousand 
dollars  each ;  and  lived  not  only  to  complete  it,  surrounded  by ' 
his  sons,  but,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  had  by  their  aid 
commenced  and  even  completed  another  great  work  on  tho 
Quadrupeds  of  America. 

It  is  not  the  least  extraordinary  characteristic  of  this  man's 
unexampled  career,  that  he  should,  until  even  late  in  life, 
have  been  entirely  unconscious  of  the  powers  he  possessed. 
Indeed,  he  repeatedly  asserts,  that  it  was  not  until  his  meet- 
ing with  Charles  Lucien  Bonaparte,  on  his  visit  to  Philadel- 
phia in  1824,  that  he  had  any  thought,  whatever,  of  pub- 
lishing, or  dreamed  that  he  had  been  accomplishing  anything 
very  extraordinary.  Bonaparte  was  astonished, — astounded, 
even,  in  looking  over  his  portfolio  of  drawings,  and  exclaimed, 
in  an  irrepressible  burst  of  admiration  and  wonder  at  the 
simplicity  of  his  unconsciousness, — 

"  Mr.  Auclubon,  do  you  know  that  you  are  a  great  man, — 
a  very  great  man  ! — The  greatest  ornithologist  in  the  world?" 

It  was  this  language  that  first  filled  him  with  the  thought 


AUDUBON — THE  HUNTER-NATURALIST.        109 

of  publishing,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  on  his  retirement  to 
tne  solitudes  of  nature,  near  the  sources  of  the  Hudson, 
became  gradually  nourished  into  a  purpose.  But  let  us  see 
the  most  touching  instance  of  this  unconsciousness  in  his  own 
relation  of  the  manner  of  his  first  interview  with  Wilson,  the 
Ornithologist.  He  lived  for  two  years  in  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky, which  was  then  a  comparatively  small  town.  He  was 
engaged  in  business  as  a  merchant  or  trader,  yet  never- 
theless says : — 

During  my  residence  at  Louisville,  much  of  my  time  was 
employed  in  my  ever  favorite  pursuits.  I  drew  and  noted 
the  habits  of  everything  which  I  procured,  and  my  collection 
was  daily  augmenting,  as  every  individual  who  carried  a  gun, 
always  sent  me  such  birds  or  quadrupeds  as  he  thought  might 
prove  useful  to  me.  My  portfolios  already  contained  upwards 
of  two  hundred  drawings. 

One  fair  morning,  I  was  surprised  by  the  sudden  entrance 
into  our  counting-room  of  Mr.  Alexander  Wilson,  the  cele- 
brated author  of  the  "American  Ornithology,"  of  whose 
existence  I  had  never  until  that  moment  been  apprised. 
This  happened  in  March,  1810.  How  well  do  I  remember 
him,  as  he  then  walked  up  to  me !  His  long,  rather  hooked 
nose,  the  keenness  of  his  eyes,  and  his  prominent  cheek-bones, 
stamped  his  countenance  with  a  peculiar  character.  His 
dress,  too,  was  of  a  kind  not  usually  seen  in  that  part  of  the 
country ;  a  short  coat,  trowsers,  and  a  waistcoat  of  grey  cloth. 
His  stature  was  not  above  the  middle  size.  He  had  two 
volumes  under  his  arm,  and  as  he  approached  the  table  at 
which  I  was  working,  I  thought  I  discovered  something  like 
astonishment  in  his  countenance.  He,  however,  immediately 
proceeded  to  disclose  the  object  of  his  visit,  which  was  to 
procure  subscriptions  for  his  work.  He  opened  his  books, 
explained  the  nature  of  his  occupations,  and  requested  my 
patronage. 

I  felt  surprised  and  gratified  at  the  sight  of  his  volumes, 


110  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

turned  over  a  few  of  the  plates,  and  had  already  taken  a  pen 
to  write  my  name  in  his  favor,  when  my  partner  rather  ab- 
ruptly said  to  me  in  French,  "My  dear  Audubon,  what 
induces  you  to  subscribe  to  this  work  ?  Your  drawings  aro 
certainly  far  better,  and  again  you  must  know  as  much  of 
the  habits  of  American  birds  as  this  gentleman."  Whether 
Mr.  Wilson  understood  French  or  not,  or  if  the  suddenness 
with  which  I  paused,  disappointed  him,  I  cannot  tell ;  but  I 
clearly  perceived  that  he  was  not  pleased.  Vanity  and  the 
encomiums  of  my  friend  prevented  me  from  subscribing.  Mr. 
Wilson  asked  me  if  I  had  many  drawings  of  birds.  I  rose, 
took  down  a  large  portfolio,  laid  it  on  the  table,  and  showed 
him,  as  I  would  show  you,  kind  reader,  or  any  other  person  fond 
of  such  subjects,  the  whole  of  the  contents,  with  the  same 
patience  with  which  he  had  shown  me  his  own  engravings. 

His  surprise  appeared  great,  as  he  told  me  he  never  had 
the  most  distant  idea  that  any  other  individual  than  himself 
had  been  engaged  in  forming  such  a  collection.  He  asked 
me  if  it  was  my  intention  to  publish,  and  when  I  answered  in 
the  negative,  his  surprise  seemed  to  increase.  And,  truly, 
such  was  not  my  intention ;  for,  until  long  after,  when  I  met 
the  Prince  of  Musignano  in  Philadelphia,  I  had  not  the  least 
idea  of  presenting  the  fruits  of  my  labors  to  the  world.  Mr. 
Wilson  now  examined  my  drawings  with  care,  asked  if  I 
should  have  any  objections  to  lending  him  a  few  during  his 
stay,  to  which  I  replied  that  I  had  none :  he  then  bade  me 
good  morning,  not,  however,  until  I  had  made  an  arrange- 
ment to  explore  the  woods  in  the  vicinity  along  with  him,  and 
had  promised  to  procure  for  him  some  birds,  of  which  I  had 
drawings  in  my  collection,  but  which  he  had  never  seen. 

It  happened  that  he  lodged  in  the  same  house  with  us,  but 
his  retired  habits,  I  thought,  exhibited  either  a  strong  feeling 
of  discontent,  or  a  decided  melancholy.  The  Scotch  airs 
which  he  played  sweetly  on  his  flute  made  me  melancholy 
too,  and  I  felt  for  him.  I  presented  him  to  my  wife  and 


AUDUBON — THE   HUNTER-NATURALIST.  Ill 

friends,  and  seeing  that  he  was  all  enthusiasm,  exerted  my- 
self as  much  as  was  in  my  power,  to  procure  for  him  the 
specimens  which  he  wanted.  We  hunted  together,  and  ob- 
tained birds  which  he  had  never  before  seen ;  but,  reader,  I 
did  not  subscribe  to  his  work,  for,  even  at  that  time,  my  col- 
lection was  greater  than  his.  Thinking  that  perhaps  he 
might  be  pleased  to  publish  the  results  of  my  researches,  I 
offered  them  to  him,  merely  on  condition  that  what  I  had 
drawn,  or  might  afterwards  draw  and  send  to  him,  should  be 
mentioned  in  his  work,  as  coming  from  my  pencil.  I  at  the 
same  time  offered  to  open  a  correspondence  with  him,  which 
I  thought  might  prove  beneficial  to  us  both.  He  made  no 
reply  to  either  proposal,  and  before  many  days  had  elapsed, 
left  Louisville,  on  his  way  to  New  Orleans,  little  knowing 
how  much  his  talents  were  appreciated  in  our  little  town,  at 
least  by  myself  and  my  friends. 

Some  time  elapsed,  during  which  I  never  heard  of  him,  or  of 
his  work.  At  length,  having  occasion  to  go  to  Philadelphia, 
I,  immediately  after  my  arrival  there,  inquired  for  him,  and 
paid  him  a  visit.  He  was  then  drawing  a  White-headed 
Eagle.  He  received  me  with  civility,  and  took  me  to  the  Ex- 
hibition Rooms  of  Rembrandt  Peale,  the  artist,  who  had 
then  portrayed  Napoleon  crossing  the  Alps.  Mr.  Wilson 
spoke  not  of  birds  or  drawings.  Feeling,  as  I  was  forced  to 
do,  that  my  company  was  not  agreeable,  I  parted  from  him ; 
and  after  that  I  never  saw  him  again.  But  judge  of  my 
astonishment  some  time  after,  when  on  reading  the  thirty- 
ninth  page  of  the  ninth  volume  of  American  Ornithology,  I 
found  in  it  the  following  paragraph  : — 

"March  23<^,  1810. — I  bade  adieu  to  Louisville,  to  which 
place  I  had  four  letters  of  recommendation,  and  was  taught 
to  expect  much  of  everything  there ;  but  neither  received  one 
act  of  civility  from  those  to  whom  I  was  recommended,  one 
subscriber,  nor  one  new  bird ;  though  I  delivered  my  letters, 
ransacked  the  woods  repeatedly,  and  visited  all  the  characters 


112  WILD   SCENES  AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

likely  to  subscribe.  Science  or  literature  has  not  one  friend 
in  this  place." 

We  will  not  add  to  the  gloom  which  has  followed  the  illus- 
trious life  of  poor  Wilson  to  his  grave,  by  any  officious  com- 
ments upon  the  tenor  of  this  short  narrative.  I  w'ill  add, 
though,  that  it  should  be  remembered,  in  forming  any  judg- 
ment of  that  strong,  moody  man,  that  he  had  bitter  woes 
enough  to  contend  with,  not  only  in  his  friendless  early 
days,  but  in  the  harsh  isolation  of  his  weary  wanderings  and 
unappreciated  after-life,  to  have  grown  a  gall  beneath  an 
angel's  wing.  Withal,  the  bursts  of  sunshine  and  exultation 
which  shone  through  his  eloquent  writings  often,  show  that 
his  inner  self  had  fed  healthfully  sometimes  upon  the  pure 
and  peaceful  teachings  of  his  gentle  pursuits.  He  was  a  man 
whose  profound  genius,  darkened  by  misfortune,  was  som- 
brely illuminated  by  a  noble  enthusiasm.  He,  too,  may  be 
accepted  as  a  Hunter-Naturalist,  but  not  as  first  among 
them  all !  To  J.  J.  Audubon,  undoubtedly,  that  high  place 
belongs,  though  this  has  been  disputed  by  many,  and  even 
Christopher  North  has  been  found  to  assert  them  as  "  equals." 

This  cannot  be  admitted  here.  Then  how  stands  the 
case? 

When  the  noble  work  of  Wilson,  the  unknown  Scotchman, 
began  to  make  its  appearance,  Ornithology  among  us  was  in 
its  infancy,  and  the  freshness  of  his  hardy  original  genius  was 
promptly  recognized  and  keenly  relished  abroad,  in  contrast 
with  the  stale,  unprofitable  treatment  of  the  predominant 
school  of  the  Technicalists. 

It  was  at  once  perceived  how  much  the  attractiveness  of 
his  subject  was  heightened  by  the  circumstances  of  his  per- 
sonal intimacy  and  association  with  the  creatures  described  in 
many  of  the  conditions  of  natural  freedom. 

His  fine  descriptions  had  a  savor  of  the  wilderness  about 
them.  His  birds  were  living  things,  and  led  out  the  heart  in 
yearning  through  the  scenes  of  a  primeval  earth  to  recognize 


AUDUBON  AND   WILSON.  113 

them  in  their  own  wild  homes,  singing  to  the  solitude  from 
some  chosen  spray,  or  plying,  with  careless  grace,  on  busy 
wings,  their  curious  sports  and  labors. 

Here  is  the  legitimate  purpose  of  works  of  this  character — 
to  fill  the  mind  with  such  pleasant  images  as  will  win  the 
affections  forth  from  the  dull  centre  of  mere  human  sympa- 
thies, through  all  the  wonders  of  the  outer  world,  up,  with  a 
wise  and  chastened  adoration,  to  the  Power  that  framed  it. 
Wilson,  to  a  greater  degree  than  any  man  who  had  yet 
appeared,  felt  himself,  and  caused  others  to  recognize,  this 
apostleship  of  the  true  Naturalist. 

It  was  an  era,  a  happy  era  in  philosophy,  when  art  had 
linked  its  remoter  teachings  to  the  hearts  of  men ;  and  to 
Wilson  undoubtedly  belongs  the  glory  of  having  fairly  pio- 
neered its  ushering.  It  is  impossible  to  regard  the  labors  of 
this  man,  even  in  a  purely  scientific  light,  without  astonish- 
ment ;  but  when  we  come  to  take  into  consideration  all  the 
pitiable  afflictions  and  degrading  misery  entailed  upon  him  by 
"caste,"  in  his  own  country,  we  are  lost  in  affectionate  admi- 
ration of  his  indomitable  genius,  as  we  see  the  shrunk  veins 
of  the  haggard  emigrant  swelling,  when  he  has  touched  our 
shore,  with  a  new  life  hardy  enough  to  cope  with  the  rude 
elements  by  which  he  found  himself  surrounded,  and  carry 
through  triumphantly  his  remarkable  undertaking. 

Spirits  with  the  vigor  in  them  his  possessed,  ask  only  the 
vital  air  of  freedom.  Difficulties  then  are  nothing.  It  is  no 
wonder,  when  those  trophies  which  he  had  wrestled  for  alone 
with  Nature  here  in  her  bare  and  unhoused  wilds,  and  had  won 
through  trials  and  poverty,  unassisted,  had  been  returned  to 
Scotland,  that  country  which  drove  him  forth  in  rags,  and  it 
had  been  offered  a  share  of  his  glory  for  its  gold,  that  it  should 
have  poured  out  freely  the  dross  upon  him  in  very  shame.  Nor 
is  il  surprising,  that  in  the  eager  reaction  of  its  penitence,  it 
should  continue  to  exalt  him  too  highly — claiming  for  him,  to 
the  detriment  of  others,  more  than  his  just  dues. 


114  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

Wo  think  it  very  natural,  'that  glorious  old  "  Christopher," 
puzzled  between  the  heartfelt  and  generous  recognition,  he 
hardly  conceals,  of  the  out-of-sight  supremacy  of  Audubon, 
and  some  compunctious  qualms  of  a  yet  farther  expiation  due 
to  the  shade  of  the  neglected  Wilson,  should  have  split  the 
difference,  by  making  them  "brothers." 

Well,  and  brothers  they  are,  by  all  those  sacred  bonds 
which  link  the  tall  fraternity  of  genius — brothers  they  are  in 
all  the  higher  virtues  of  manhood — brothers  they  are  in  tho 
yet  more  intimate  sense,  that  the  same  objects  and  the  same 
field  have  been  labored  upon  by  each;  but,  that  they  are 
equals  in  the  sense  of  Christopher's  "same  stature,"  we  alto- 
gether deny. 

We  should  as  well  talk  of  elevating  the  knotted  front  of 
Gifford,  of  murderous  Jefiery,  or  the  sleek  scalp  of  a  modern 
Reviewer  into  that  rare  altitude — till  "  the  crowns  of  their 
heads  touch" — from  which  the  broad  brow  of  "  Maga  throned" 
smiles  serenely  down  upon  her  empire. 

They  are  not  equal !  By  the  same  sign  that  Christopher, 
like  another  "bald"  and  "full-winged  bird,"  yet  holds  the 
empyrean  alone, — Audubon,  though  "last,  shall  be  fii-st." 

First — in  that,  though  Wilson  displayed  the  noblest  ele- 
ments of  greatness  in  the  staunch,  unconquerable  vigor  with 
which  he  met  the  difficulties  in  his  path — Audubon  exhibited 
quite  as  much  "game,"  and  in  the  proportionable  grandeur 
of  his  scheme,  had  full  as  many  trials  to  surmount. 

First — in  that,  while  the  biographies  of  Wilson  were  full 
of  natural  spirit,  of  grace  and  power,  greatly  beyond  all  his 
predecessors,  yet  those  of  Audubon  are  far  more  minute  and 
carefully  detailed — introducing  us,  one  after  another,  to  a  more 
intimate  fellowship  with  each  individual  of  the  wide  family 
of  his  love,  through  every  piquant  and  distinctive  trait  of 
gesture,  air,  and  movement,  characterizing  all  the  phases  of 
their  nature — without  the  faults  of  generalization,  and  too 
much  credence  in  hear-say,  or  a  gloomy  and  unphilosophic 


AUDUBOff  AND   WILSON.  115 

Spirit — since  the  mild  and  loving  geniality  of  childhood  breathes 
through  every  line. 

First,  moreover,  by  the  reason  that,  while  the  drawings  of 
Wilson  are  advanced  upon  all  that  had  yet  been  accomplished, 
are  free  and  accurate  in  outline,  and  sometimes  even  elegant 
in  finish,  yet  those  of  Audubon  are  superior  to  them  beyond 
all  measure  of  comparison. 

And  here  is  the  clear  ground  of  distinction  on  which  the 
more  powerful  genius  steps  forth  in  the  proper  garb  of  its 
own  striking  and  unmistakeable  individuality,  and  appeals  to 
the  eye  at  once  for  a  recognition  of  its  creations,  as  alone 
original  and  apart  from  all  others.  Audubon's  drawings  are 
quite  as  singular  and  unapproached  as  any  one  of  the  phe- 
nomena of  art  by  which  we  mark  the  ages. 

Wilson's  pencil  has  been  content  with  a  mere  portraiture, 
correct,  indeed,  of  proportion,  and  a  color  barely  suggestive ; 
but  the  pencil  of  the  necromancer  has  not  only  caught  the 
play  of  sunlight,  shivered  gorgeous  in  metallic  hues  from  each 
particular  fibre  of  their  plumes,  (in  a  word,  created  the  true 
style  of  coloring,)  but  has  stilled  these  arrowy  cleavers  of  the 
elements  amidst  their  own  clouds,  upon  the  very  waves  on 
which  th'ey  loved  "to  sit  and  swing,"  by  "the  beached 
verge,"  on  the  precipitous  perch,  or  twig  and  leaf  and  berry 
of  the  boughs  that  were  their  homes — stilled  them,  too,  in  all 
the  character  of  passionate  life — their  loves,  battles,  chases, 
gambols,  thefts — the  grotesquery  and  grace,  every  mode  and 
mood  of  their  being  amidst  their  native  scenes. 

Each  plate  is  a  full-length  family  portrait,  with  all  the 
accessories  historical.  They  are  perfect  in  themselves,  and 
tell  the  whole  story  more  clearly  than  words  could  do.  Talcen 
apart,  they  are  chapters  in  the  "  Illuminated  Bible"  of  nature 
— and  very  pleasant  is  the  creed  they  teach,  full  of  merry 
thoughts  that  make  the  heart  go  lightly ;  and  plumy  shapes, 
of  strange,  undreamed-of  beauty,  come  and  go  through  the 
still  air  of  musings,  till  we  grow  devout  with  thinking  how 


116  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTEKS. 

God  has  made  the  roughest  places  of  our  earth  so  populous 
with  lovely  things  that  can  surprise  us  into  joy. 

But  without  rhapsodizing.  Wilson's  claim  to  originality, 
in  having  first  conceived  the  magnificent  design  of  illustrating 
the  Birds  of  America,  and  led  the  van  of  Practical  Science  in 
its  relations  to  Ornithology,  is  certainly  a  most  imposing  r.no, 
and  one  with  which  no  after  exertions  of  mere  talent,  however 
tireless,  devoted,  and  successful  it  might  be,  could  by  any 
possibility  compete.  But  genius  can  do  what  talent  cannot. 
It  is  above  all  rules  and  "saws,"  and  scorns  the  measure  of 
an  aphorism. 

"  When  the  power  falls  into  the  mighty  hands 
Of  Nature — the  spirit,  giant-born, 
Who  listens  only  to  himself " 

such  things  are  effected,  as  an  age  of  the  leaden  attainments 
of  studied  acquisition  cannot  accomplish. 

Audubon,  in  the  unique  and  striking  originality  of  his 
drawings,  and  the  whole  treatment  of  his  themes,  has  so  far 
outstripped,  in  a  bold  freedom  of  design  and  execution,  any 
thing  of  Wilson's  which  may  bo  denominated  suggestive  even, 
as  to  leave  scarcely  any  room  for  comparison  in  this  last 
issue.  If  Wilson  was  original,  our  Ornithologist  is  infinitely 
more  so. 

Wilson  has  all  the  advantages  in  such  a  contrast.  "  He 
was  first  in  the  field,"  and  with  the  world — that  said,  all  is 
said.  Whatever  has  been  done  since  must  be  footed  on  to 
his  account  with  fame,  at  least  to  the  point  of  careful  balance 
with  that  of  any  one  who  has  chanced  to  come  after  him. 
This  is  not  strictly  just. 

We  admit  cheerfully  all  that  is  righteously  due  to  the 
Paisley  adventurer.  But  we  cannot  perceive  why — when  the 
fact  that  he  is  not  entitled  to  it,  is  clear  as  a  sunburst  to  any 
observer — he  should  be  thrust,  rather  than  elevated  into  an 
equal  rank  with  Audubon.  It  has  been  too  much  the  way  of 


AUDUBON  AND   WILSON.  117 

the  world  to  ease  its  conscience  of  present  injustice  and 
neglect  of  genius,  by  an  internal  reservation,  that  it  will  pile 
up  posthumous  honors  mountain  high. 

Now  it  is  surely  to  be  apprehended  that  this  genius,  though 
"  of  so  airy  and  light  a  quality,"  has  yet  something  to  seek 
"of  the  earth,  earthy,"  in  common  with  the  rest  of  men — 
and  that,  therefore,  the  recognizing,  with  its  own  proper  eyes, 
the  just  claims  of  an  original  mind,  by  the  country  to  which 
it  has  added  lustre,  cannot  be  to  it  a  matter  of  indifference. 
Audubon  has  nothing  of  glory  to  ask  of  us.  But  this  his 
memory  demands,  that  we,  his  countrymen,  should  guard  his 
honors  from  even  the  shadow  of  infringement.  "We  drove  him 
to  the  embrace  of  a  foreign  land  for  patronage — but  there, 
amidst  all  the  pomp  of  courts  and  the  intoxication  of  suddea 
success,  he  was  still  proudly  the  American  "Woodsman ;  no- 
thing could  damp  that  noble  pride,  and  through  every  page 
he  has  written,  we  can  still  see  it  looking  out  with  the  same 
calm,  abiding  affection.  "We  should  not,  then,  be  the  last  to 
vindicate  such  valorous  faith.  The  man  of  his  age,  the  illus- 
trious Frenchman,  has  led  the  way  in  defining  his  supremacy, 
and  yet  the  American  mind,  since  Professor  "Wilson  pro- 
nounced his  autocratic  fiat,  that  they  "were  equals,"  has 
been  timid  to  say  in  plain  words — No  !  our  Audubon  is  regally 
the  head  and  front  of  Illustrative  Science;  the  dictum  of 
Christopher  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  he  is  in  this 
the  Ornithologist  of  the  world,  and  the  favorite  Wilson  must 
be  content  to  stand  below  him. 

But  hear  this  same  cannie  Scot,  Christopher  North,  dis 
course  of  Audubon  en  dishabille,  with  the  straight-jacket  of 
nationality  thrown  aside,  and  verily  in  his  dressing  gown  and 
slippers,  when  it  is  man  to  man  that  speaks  as  the  heart 
moveth,  not  Scot  to  Scot !  Thus,  in  the  Noctes  he  discourseth, 
sotto  voce. 

We  were  sitting  one  night,  lately,  all  alone  by  ourselves, 
almost  unconsciously  eyeing  the  members,  fire  without  flame, 


118  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS.] 

in  the  many-visioned  grate,  but  at  times  aware  of  the  symbols 
and  emblems  there  beautifully  built  up,  of  the  ongoings  of 
human  life,  when  a  knocking,  not  loud  but  resolute,  came 
to  the  front  door,  followed  by  the  rustling  thrill  of  the  bell- 
wire,  and  then  by  a  tinkling  far  below,  too  gentle  to  waken 
the  house,  that  continued  to  enjoy  the  undisturbed  dream  of  its 
repose.  At  first  we  supposed  it  might  be  but  some  late-home- 
going  knight-errant  from  a  feast  of  shells,  in  a  mood  "between 
malice  and  true-love,"  seeking  to  disquiet  the  slumbers  of  Old 
Christopher,  in  expectation  of  seeing  his  night-cap  (which  he 
never  wears)  popped  out  of  the  window,  and  hearing  his  voice 
(of  which  he  is  chary  in  the  open  air)  simulating  a  scold 
upon  the  audacious  sleep-breaker.  So  we  benevolently  laid 
back  our  head  on  our  easy-chair,  and  pursued  our  speculations 
on  the  state  of  affairs  in  general — and  more  particularly  on 
the  floundering  fall  of  that  inexplicable  people — the  Whigs. 
We  had  been  wondering,  and  of  our  wondering  found  no  end, 
what  could  have  been  their  chief  reasons  for  committing  sui- 
cide. It  appeared  a  case  of  very  singular  felo-de-se — for 
they  had  so  timed  the  "rash  act,"  as  to  excite  strong  suspi- 
cious in  the  public  mind  that  his  Majesty  had  committed 
murder.  Circumstances,  however,  had  soon  come  to  light, 
that  proved  to  demonstration,  that  the  wretched  Ministry  had 
laid  violent  hands  on  itself,  and  effected  its  purpose  by 
strangulation.  There — was  the  fatal  black  ring  visible  round 
the  neck — though  a  mere  thread ;  there — were  the  blood- 
shot eyes  protruding  from  the  sockets ;  there — the  lip-biting 
teeth  clenched  in  the  last  convulsions ;  and  there — sorriest 
sight  of  all — was  the  ghastly  suicidal  smile,  last  relic  of  the 
laughter  of  despair.  But  the  knocking  would  not  leave  the 
door — and  listening  to  its  character,  we  were  assured  that  it 
came  from  the  fist  of  a  friend,  who  saw  light  through  the 
chinks  of  the  shutter,  and  knew,  moreover,  that  we  never  put 
on  the  shroud  of  death's  pleasant  brother,  sleep,  till  "  ae  weo 
short  hour  ayont  the  twal,"  and  often  not  till  earliest  cock- 


ATJDUBON  AND   WILSON.  119 

crow,  which  chanticleer  utters  somewhat  drowsily,  and  then 
replaces  his  head  beneath  his  wing,  supported  on  one  side  by 
a  partlet,  on  the  other  by  a  hen.  So  we  gathered  up  our 
slippered  feet  from  the  rug,  lamp  in  hand  stalked  along  the 
lobbies,  unchained  and  unlocked  the  oak  which  our  faithful 
night  porter  Somnus  had  sported — and  lo !  a  figure  muffled 
up  in  a  cloak,  and  furred  like  a  Russ,  who  advanced  familiarly 
into  the  hall,  extended  both  hands,  and  then  embracing  us, 
bade  God  bless  us,  and  pronounced,  with  somewhat  of  a 
foreign  accent,  the  name  in  which  we  and  the  world  rejoice — 
"  Christopher  North  !"  We  were  not  slow  in  returning  the 
hug  fraternal — for  who  was  it  but  the  "  American  Woods- 
man ?" — even  Audubon  himself — fresh  from  the  Floridas — 
and  breathing  of  the  pure  air  of  far-off  Labrador  ! 

Three  years  and  upwards  had  fled  since  we  had  taken  fare- 
well of  the  illustrious  Ornithologist — on  the  same  spot — at 
the  same  hour ;  and  there  was  something  ghostlike  in  such 
return  of  a  dear  friend  from  a  distant  region — almost  as  if 
from  the  land  of  spirits.  It  seemed  as  if  the  same  moon 
again  looked  at  us — but  then  she  was  wan  and  somewhat 
sad — now  clear  as  a  diamond,  and  all  the  starry  heavens 
wore  a  smile.  "  Our  words  they  were  no"  mony  feck" — but 
in  less  time  than  we  have  taken  to  write  it — we  two  were 
sitting  cheek  by  jowl,  and  hand  in  hand,  by  that  essential 
fire — while  we  showed  by  our  looks  that  we  both  felt,  now 
they  were  over,  that  three  years  were  but  as  one  day !  The 
cane  coal-scuttle,  instinct  with  spirit,  beeted  the  fire  of  its 
own  accord,  without  word  or  beck  of  ours,  as  if  placed  there 
by  the  hands  of  one  of  our  wakeful  Lares ;  in  globe  of  purest 
crystal  the  Glenlivet  shone ;  unasked  the  bright  brass  kettle 
began  to  whisper  its  sweet  "under  song;"  and  a  centenary 
of  the  fairest  oysters  native  to  our  isle  turned  towards  us 
their  languishing  eyes,  unseen  the  Nereid  that  had  on  the 
instant  wafted  them  from  the  procreant  cradle  beds  of  Pres- 
tonpans.  Grace  said,  we  drew  in  to  supper,  and  hobnobbing, 


?20.  WILD   SCENES   AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

from  elegant  long-shank,  down  each  naturalist's  gullets  gra- 
ciously descended,  with  a  gurgle,  the  mildest,  the  meekest, 
the  very  Moses  of  Ales. 

Audubon,  ere  half  an  hour  had  elapsed,  found  an  oppor- 
tunity of  telling  us  that  he  had  never  seen  us  in  a  higher  state 
of  preservation — and  in  a  low  voice  whispered  something  about 
the  eagle  renewing  his  youth.  We  acknowledged  the  kind- 
ness by  a  remark  on  bold  bright  birds  of  passage  that  find  the 
seasons  obedient  to  their  will,  and  wing  their  way  through 
worlds  still  rejoicing  in  the  perfect  year.  But  too  true 
friends  were  we  not  to  be  sincere  in  all  we  seriously  said ;  and 
while  Audubon  confessed  that  he  saw  rather  more  plainly 
than  when  we  parted  the  crowfeet  in  the  corners  of  our  eyes, 
we  did  not  deny  that  we  saw  in  him  an  image  of  the  Falco 
Leucocephalus,  for  that,  looking  on  his  "  carum  caput,"  it 
answered  his  own  description  of  that  handsome  and  powerful 
bird,  viz :  "  the  general  color  of  the  plumage  above  is  dull 
hair-brown,  the  lower  parts  being  deeply  brown,  broadly 
margined  with  greyish  white."  But  here  he  corrected  us ; 
for  "Surely  my  dear  friend,"  quoth  he,  "you  must  admit  I 
am  a  living  specimen  of  the  Adult  Bird,  and  you  remember 
my  description  of  him  in  my  First  Volume."  And  thus 
blending  our  gravities  and  our  gayetics,  we  sat  facing  one 
another,  each  with  his  last  oyster  on  the  prong  of  his  trident, 
which  disappeared,  like  all  mortal  joys,  between  a  smile  and 
a  sigh. 

How  similar — in  much — our  dispositions — yet  in  almost  all 
how  dissimilar  our  lives  !  Since  last  we  parted,  "  AVC  scarcely 
heard  of  half  a  mile  from  home" — he  tanned  by  the  suns  and 
beaten  by  the  storms  of  many  latitudes — we  like  a  ship  laid 
•up  in  ordinary,  or  anchored  close  in  shore  within  the  same 
sheltering  bay — with  sails  unfurled  and  flags  flying  but  for 
sake  of  show  on  some  holiday — he  like  a  ship  that  every 
morning  has  been  dashing  through  a  new  world  of  waves — 
often  close-reefed  or  under  bare  poles — but  oftcner  affronting 


ATTDUBON  AND   WILSON".  121 

the  heavens  with  a  whiter  and  swifter  cloud  than  any  hoisted 
by  the  combined  fleets  in  the  sky.  And  now,  with  canvas 
unrent,  and  masts  unsprung,  returned  to  the  very  buoy  she 
left.  Somewhat  faded,  indeed,  in  her  apparelling — but  her 
hull  sound  as  ever — nor  a  speck  of  dry  rot  in  her  timbers — 
her  keel  unscathed  by  rock — her  cut-water  yet  sharp  as  new- 
whetted  scythe  ere  the  mower  renews  his  toil — her-figure- 
head,  that  had  so  often  looked  out  for  squalls,  now  "patient 
as  the  brooding  dove" — and  her  bowsprit — but  let  "s  man 
the  main-brace ;  nor  is  there  purer  spirit — my  trusty  frere — 
in  the  Old  World  or  the  New. 

It  was  quite  a  Noctes.  Audubon  told  us — by  snatches — 
all  his  travels,  history,  with  many  an  anecdote  interspersed 
of  the  dwellers  among  the  woods — bird,  beast  and  man. 

All  this  and  more  he  told  us,  with  a  cheerful  voice  and 
animated  eyes,  while  the  dusky  hours  were  noiselessly  wheel- 
ing the  chariot  of  Night  along  the  star-losing  sky ;  and  we 
too  had  something  to  tell  him  of  our  own  home-loving  obscu- 
rity, not  ungladdened  by  studies  sweet  in  the  Forest — till 
Dawn  yoked  her  dappled  coursers  for  one  single  slow  stage 
— and  then  jocund  Morn  leaping  up  on  the  box,  took  the 
ribbons  in  her  rosy  fingers,  and,  after  a  dram  of  dew,  blew 
her  bugle,  and  drove  like  blazes  right  on  towards  the  gates 
of  Day. 

His  great  work,  says  Professor  "Wilson,  elsewhere,  was  indeed 
a  perilous  undertaking  for  a  stranger  in  Britain,  without  the 
patronage  of  powerful  friends,  and  with  no  very  great  means 
of  his  own — all  of  which  he  embarked  in  the  enterprise  dearest 
to  his  heart.  Had  it  failed,  Audubon  would  have  been  a 
ruined  man — and  that  fear  must  have  sometimes  dismally 
disturbed  him,  for  he  is  not  alone  in  life,  and  is  a  man  of 
strong  family  affections.  But  happily  those  nearest  his 
breast  are  as  enthusiastic  in  the  love  of  natural  science  as 
himself — and  were  all  willing  to  sink  or  swim  with  the  be 
loved  husband  and  venerated  father.  America  may  well  be 


122 


WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 


proud  of  him — and  he  gratefully  records  the  kindness  he  has 
experienced  from  so  many  of  her  most  distinguished  sons. 
In  his  own  fame  he  was  just  and  generous  to  all  who  excel  in 
the  same  studies ;  not  a  particle  of  jealousy  is  in  his  compo- 
sition ;  a  sin,  that,  alas !  seems  too  easily  to  beset  too  many 
of  the  most  gifted  spirits  in  literature  and  science ,  nor  is  the 
happiest  genius — imaginative  or  intellectual — such  is  the 
frailty  of  poor  human  nature  at  the  best — safe  from  the  access 
of  that  dishonoring  passion. 

Just  and  generously  said,  most  loyal   Christopher !  may 
thy  giant  shadow  never  be  less  ! 


ALEXANDER  WILSON. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AUDUBON  AND   BOONE. 

I  TURN  from  Audubon  and  his  triumphs  amid  courtly  scenes 
of  the  Old  World,  surrounded  by  the  princely  and  the  learned, 
to  the  Hunter-Naturalist  at  his  labors  in  the  wilderness  of  the 
New — the  associate  of  the  rugged  Boone,  and  many  another 
skin-dressed  peer. 

We  may  gather  from  his  generous  exhortation  to  younger 
naturalists  to  take  the  field,  interesting  features  of  what  may 
be  supposed  to  have  been  his  own  method  of  conducting  his 
investigations  when  abroad  with  nature.  Something  of  the 
sort  of  training  by  which  his  remarkable  character  was  formed, 
and  the  modes  and  circumstances  under  which  his  works  grew. 
After  saying  that  the  list  of  new  species  had  been  nearly 
doubled  since  the  time  of  Alexander  Wilson's  work,  and  that 
he  felt  confident  very  many  species  remain  to  be  added  by 
future  observers,  who  shall  travel  the  vast  wastes  extending 
northward  and  westward  from  the  Canadas,  and  along  the 
western  slopes  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  from  Nootka  to  Cali- 
fornia ;  indeed,  that  he  looks  upon  the  whole  range  of  those 
magnificent  mountains  as  being  yet  unexplored — he  addresses 
the  young  enthusiast : — 

Therefore,  I  would  strongly  advise  you  to  make  up  your 
mind,  shoulder  your  gun,  muster  all  your  spirits,  and  start  in 
search  of  the  interesting  unknown,  of  which  I  greatly  regret 
I  can  no  more  go  in  pursuit — not  for  want  of  will,  but  of 
the  vigor  and  elasticity  necessary  for  so  arduous  an  enter- 
prise. Should  you  agree  to  undertake  the  task,  and  prove 
fortunate  enough  to  return  full  of  knowledge,  laden  with 

123 


124  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

objects  new  and  rare,  be  pleased  when  you  publish  your  work, 
to  place  my  name  in  the  list  of  subscribers,  and  be  assured 
that  I  will  not  leave  you  in  the  lurch. 

Now  supposing  that  you  are  full  of  ardor  and  ready  to 
proceed ;  allow  me  to  offer  you  a  little  advice.  Leave  nothing 
to  memory,  but  note  down  all  your  observations  with  ink,  not 
with  a  black-lead  pencil,  and  keep  in  mind,  that  the  more  par- 
ticulars you  write  at  the  time,  the  more  you  will  recollect 
afterwards.  Work  not  at  night,  but  anticipate  the  morning 
dawn,  and  never  think,  for  an  instant,  about  the  difficulties 
of  ransacking  the  woods,  the  shores,  or  the  barren  grounds, 
nor  be  vexed  when  you  have  traversed  a  few  hundred  miles 
of  country  without  finding  a  single  new  species.  It  may, 
indeed,  it  not  unfrequently  happens,  that  after  days,  or  even 
weeks  of  fruitless  search,  one  enters  a  grove,  or  comes  upon 
a  pond,  or  forces  his  way  through  the  tall  grass  of  a  prairie, 
and  suddenly  meets  with  several  objects,  all  new,  all  beautiful, 
and  perhaps  all  suited  to  the  palate.  Then  how  delightful 
will  be  your  feelings,  and  how  marvelously  all  fatigue  will 
vanish. 

Think,  for  instance,  that  you  are  on  one  of  the  declivities 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  with  shaggy  and  abrupt  banks  on 
each  side  of  you,  while  the  naked  cliffs  tower  high  over  head, 
as  if  with  the  wish  to  reach  the  sky.  Your  trusty  gun  has 
brought  to  the  ground  a  most  splendid  '  American  Pheasant,' 
weighing  fully  two  pounds  !  What  a  treat !  You  have  been 
surprised  at  the  length  of  its  tail ;  you  have  taken  the  precise 
measurement  of  all  its  parts,  and  given  a  brief  description  of 
it.  Have  you  read  this  twice  and  corrected  errors  and  defi- 
ciencies ?  '  Yes,'  you  say.  Very  well ;  now  you  have  begun 
your  drawing  of  this  precious  bird.  Ah  !  you  have  finished 
it.  Xow  then,  you  skin  the  beautiful  creature,  and  you  are 
pleased  to  find  it  plump  and  fat.  You  have,  I  find,  studied 
comparative  anatomy  under  my  friend,  Macgillivray,  and  at 
least,  have  finished  your  examination  of  the  oesophagus,  giz- 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  125 

zard,  cocca,  trachee,  and  bronchi.  On  the  ignited  clay  cast- 
ings of  a  buffalo  you  have  laid  the  body,  and  it  is  now  almost 
ready  to  satisfy  the  longing  of  your  stomach,  as  it  hisses  in 
its  oderous  sap.  The  brook  at  your  feet  affords  the  very  best 
drink  that  nature  can  supply,  and  I  need  not  wish  you  better 
fare  than  that  before  you. 

Next  morning  you  find  yourself  refreshed  and  reinvigor- 
ated,  more  ardent  than  ever,  for  success  fails  not  to  excite  the 
desire  of  those  who  have  entered  upon  the  study  of  nature. 
You  have  packed  your  bird's  skin  flat  in  your  box,  rolled  up 
your  drawing  round  those  previously  made,  and  now,  day 
after  day,  you  push  through  thick  and  thin,  sometimes  with 
success,  and  sometimes  without ;  but  you  at  last  return  with 
such  a  load  on  your  shoulders  as  I  have  often  carried  on 
mine.  Having  once  more  reached  the  settlements,  you  relieve 
your  tired  limbs  by  mounting  a  horse,  and  at  length  gaining 
a  city,  find  means  of  publishing  the  results  of  your  journey. 

It  requires  very  little  exertion  of  fancy  to  see  in  this  a 
felicitous  sketch  of  his  own  mode  of  "  ransacking  the  woods, 
the  shores,  and  the  barren  grounds." 

It  is  just  such  hardy  methods  wherein  consist  the  immea- 
surable superiority  of  Mr.  Audubon  over  the  whole  school  of 
stuffed-specimen  delineators,  whose  indigestible  crudities  and 
VTttched  figures  have  proven  the  very  night-mare  of  Natural 
Science  in  the  Old  World. 

The  idea  of  mounting  knapsack  and  gun,  and  trudging 
thousands  of  miles  through  brake  and  morass,  over  "  sands, 
shores,  and  desert  wildernesses,"  encountering  and  braving 
the  "imminence"  of  many  perils,  exposed  to  all  "the  spite 
of  wreakful  elements,"  purely  for  love  of  nature,  and  scientific 
accuracy,  would  have  set  one  of  these  philosophical  amateurs 
to  shuddering.  To  bespatter  black  coat  and  silken  hose,  get 
half  starved,  and  catch  a  death  cold  in  "  collecting  materials," 
were  simply  preposterous — when  the  Zoological  gardens  are 
close  at  hand,  and  the  museums  are  filled  with  specimens. 


126  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

To  be  sure  they  have  been  dead  a  few  years,  and  owe  their 
present  forms  very  much  to  the  taste  of  the  ignorant  trades- 
man who  "wired"  and  stuffed  them — but  the  colors  are  there ; 
they  do  not  fade — that  is,  not  much — and  by  a  slight  exertion 
of  fancy  it  will  be  easy  enough  to  make  them  "sister  nature's 
own  shape"  of  birds  again,  so  that  shortly  a  magnificent  five 
vol.  illustrated  work  makes  its  appearance. 

Contrast  all  such  farrago  with  the  language  of  a  man  who 
knew  what  he  was  doing.  It  was  during  those  weary  wan- 
derings in  which  Audubon  coursed  back  and  forth  "  the 
seasons  from  equator  to  the  pole,"  that  in  the  far  south  he 
met  with  the  "  Oarracaras  Eagle,"  then  a  new  bird  to  him. 
lie  -says — 

1  was  not  aware  of  the  existence  of  the  Caracara  or  Bra- 
zilian Eagle  in  the  United  States,  until  my  visit  to  the 
Floridas,  in  the  winter  of  1831.  On  the  24th  of  November 
of  that  year,  in  the  course  of  an  excursion  near  the  town  of 
St.  Augustine,  I  observed  a  bird  flying  at  a  great  elevation, 
and  almost  over  my  head.  Convinced  that  it  was  unknown 
to  me,  and  bent  on  obtaining  it,  I  followed  it  nearly  a  mile, 
when  I  saw  it  sail  towards  the  earth,  making  for  a  place 
where  a  group  of  Vultures  ware  engaged  in  devouring  a  dead 
horse.  Walking  up  to  the  horse,  I  observed  the  new  bird 
alighted  on  it,  and  helping  itself  freely  to  the  savory  meat 
beneath  its  feet ;  but  it  evinced  a  degree  of  shyness  far  greater 
than  that  of  its  associates,  the  Turkey  Buzzards  and  Carrion 
Crows.  I  moved  circuitously,  until  I  came  to  a  deep  ditch, 
along  which  I  crawled,  and  went  as  near  to  the  bird  as  I  pos- 
sibly could  ;  but  finding  the  distance  much  too  great  for  a 
sure  shot,  I  got  up  suddenly,  when  the  whole  of  the  birds 
took  to  flight.  The  eagle,  as  if  desirous  of  forming  acquaint- 
ar  ce  with  me,  took  a  round  and  passed  over  me.  I  shot,  but 
to  my  great  mortification  missed  it.  However,  it  alighted  a 
few  hundred  yards  off,  in  an  open  savanna,  on  which  I  laid 
myself  flat  on  the  ground,  and  crawled  towards  it,  pushing 


AUBUBON  AND   BOOXE.  127 

my  gun  before  me,  amid  burs  and  mud-holes,  until  I  reached 
the  distance  of  about  seventy-five  yards  from  it,  when  I 
stopped  to  observe  its  attitudes.  The  bird  did  not  notice 
me ;  he  stood  on  a  lump  of  flesh,  tearing  it  to  pieces,  in  the 
manner  of  a  Vulture,  until  he  had  nearly  swallowed  the 
whole.  Being  now  less  occupied,  he  spied  me,  erected  the 
feathers  of  his  neck,  and,  starting  up,  flew  away,  carrying 
the  remainder  of  his  prey  in  his  talons.  I  shot  a  second 
time,  and  probably  touched  him ;  for  he  dropped  his  burden, 
and  made  off  in  a  direct  course,  across  the  St.  Sebastian  river, 
with  alternate  sailings  and  flappings,  somewhat  in  the  manner 
of  a  Vulture,  but  more  gracefully.  He  never  uttered  a  cry, 
and  I  followed  him  wistfully  with  my  eyes  until  he  was  quite 
out  of  sight. 

The  following  day  the  bird  returned,  and  was  again  among 
the  Vultures,  but  at  some  distance  from  the  carcase,  the  birds 
having  been  kept  off  by  the  dogs.  I  approached  by  the  ditch, 
saw  it  very  well,  and  watched  its  movements,  until  it  arose, 
when  once  more  I  shot,  but  without  effect.  It  sailed  off  in 
large  circles,  gliding  in  a  very  elegant  manner,  and  now  and 
then  diving  downwards  and  rising  again. 

Two  days  elapsed  before  it  returned.  Being  apprised  by 
a  friend  of  this  desired  event,  instead  of  going  after  it  myself, 
I  dispatched  my  assistant,  who  returned  with  it  in  little  more 
than  half  an  hour.  I  immediately  began  my  drawing  cf  it. 
The  weather  was  sultry,  the  thermometer  being  at  89°; 
and,  to  my  surprise,  the  vivid  tints  of  the  plumage  were 
fading  much  faster  than  I  had  ever  seen  them  in  like  cir- 
cumstances, insomuch  that  Dr.  Bell  of  Dublin,  who  saw  it 
when  fresh,  and  also  when  I  was  finishing  the  drawing  twenty- 
four  hours  after,  said  he  could  scarcely  believe  it  to  be  ths 
same  bird.  How  often  have  I  thought  of  the  changes  which 
I  have  seen  effected  in  the  colors  of  the  bill,  legs,  eyes,  and 
even  the  plumage  of  birds,  when  looking  on  imitations  which 
I  was  aware  were  taken  from  stuffed  specimens,  and  which  I 


128  WILD   SCENES  AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

well  knew  could  not  be  accurate !  The  sJcin,  when  the  bird 
was  quite  recent,  was  of  a  bright  yellow.  The  bird  was  ex- 
tremely lousy.  Its  stomach  contained  the  remains  of  a  bull- 
frog, numerous  hard-shelled  worms,  and  a  quantity  of  horse 
and  deer-hair.  The  skin  was  saved  with  great  difficulty,  and 
its  plumage  had  entirely  lost  its  original  lightness  of  coloring. 
The  deep  red  of  the  fleshy  parts  of  the  head  had  assumed  a 
purplish  livid  hue,  and  the  spoil  scarcely  resembled  the  coat 
of  the  living  Eagle. 

I  made  a  double  drawing  of.  this  individual,  for  the  purpose 
of  showing  all  its  feathers,  which  I  hope  will  be  found  to  be 
accurately  represented. 

This  is  the  way  in  which  one  of  the  truest  naturalists  who 
ever  delineated  form  of  bird,  beast,  or  creeping  thing,  con- 
sidered it  necessary  to  labor  in  his  vocation,  and  this  is  Jiis 
opinion  about  the  evanescence  of  colors  in  the  dead  subjects, 
and,  as  is  of  course  implied,  of  the  undoubtedly  wide  play  for 
the  "fancy"  in  replacing  them. 

Hear,  too,  his  account  of  the  study  of  Water  Birds.  He 
says — 

The  difficulties  which  are  to  be  encountered  in  studying 
the  habits  of  our  Water  Birds  are  great.  He  who  follows 
the  feathered  inhabitants  of  the  forests  and  plains,  however 
rough  or  tangled  the  paths  may  be,  seldom  fails  to  obtain  the 
objects  of  his  pursuit,  provided  he  be  possessed  of  due  enthu- 
siasm and  perseverance.  The  Land  Bird  flits  from  bush  to 
bush,  runs  before  you,  and  seldom  extends  its  flight  beyond 
the  range  of  your  vision.  It  is  very  different  with  the  Water 
Bird,  which  sweeps  afar  over  the  wide  ocean,  hovers  above 
the  surges,  or  betakes  itself  for  refuge  to  the  inaccessible 
rocks  on  the  shore.  There,  on  the  smooth  sea-beach,  you  see 
the  lively  and  active  Sandpiper ;  on  that  rugged  promontory 
the  Dusky  Cormorant ;  under  the  dark  shade  of  yon  cypress 
the  Ibis  and  Heron ;  above  you  in  the  still  air  floats  the  Peli- 
can or  the  Swan  j  while  far  over  the  angry  billows  scour  the 


ATJDUBON  AND   BOONE.  129 

Fulmar  and  the  Frigate  bird.  If  you  endeavor  to  approach 
these  birds  in  their  haunts,  they  betake  themselves  to  flight, 
and  speed  to  places  where  they  are  secure  from  your  in- 
trusion. 

But  the  scarcer  the  fruit,  the  more  prized  it  is ;  and  seldom 
have  I  experienced  greater  pleasures  than  when  on  the  Florida 
Keys,  under  a  burning  sun,  after  pushing  my  bark  for  miles 
over  a  soapy  flat,  I  have  striven  all  day  long,  tormented  by 
myriads  of  insects,  to  procure  a  heron  new  to  me,  and  have 
at  length  succeeded  in  my  efforts.  And  then  how  amply  are 
the  labors  of  the  naturalist  compensated,  when,  after  observ- 
ing the  wildest  and  most  distrustful  birds,  in  their  remote  and 
almost  inaccessible  breeding  places,  he  returns  from  his  jour- 
neys, and  relates  his  adventures  to  an  interested  and  friendly 
audience. 

It  is  thus  the  miraculous  fidelity  which  characterises  his  whole 
work,  could  only  have  been  attained.  His  life  is  full  of  such 
incidents.  It  was  indeed  a  habit  from  which  he  never  devi- 
ated throughout  the  long  years  of  his  faithful  dedication  to  his 
art,  to  make  his  drawings,  if  possible,  on  the  very  spot  where 
the  specimens  had  been  obtained,  without  regard  to  heat,  or 
cold,  or  storm.  In  making  his  drawings  of  the  Golden  Eagle, 
his  incessant  application  through  many  hours  of  hurried 
labor,  without  rest,  threw  him  into  a  violent  fit  of  illness 
which  quite  nearly  cost  him  his  life.  In  many  other  instances 
he  suffered  greatly.  He  sometimes  worked,  while  in  Labra- 
dor, until  the  pencil  absolutely  dropped  from  his  stiffened 
fingers,  frozen  in  that  bitter  air ;  and  so  it  was  in  the  South, 
his  exposure  to  the  opposite  extremes  were  quite  as  great. 

But  it  is  by  contrasting  his  own  accounts  of  his  visit  to 
Lebrador  and  the  Florida  Keys,  that  we  will  best  be  enabled 
to  apprehend  the  rugged  zeal  of  his  out-door  methods  in  these 
widely  separated  regions.  A  visit  to  Labrador,  which  is  the 
nesting-ground  of  a  vast  number  of  our  migratory  birds, 
having  become  necessary  to  the  continuation  of  his  work,  the 

9 


130  WILD   SCENES  AND  WILD  HUNTERS. 

first  volume  only  having  been  as  yet  issued,  he  chartered  a 
small  vessel,  the  "  Ripley,"  at  Eastport,  Maine,  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  accompanied  hy  four  young  gentlemen,  fond  of 
Natural  History  and  adventure,  set  sail  for  the  North.  He 
describes  his  out-fit,  mode  of  life  on  board  and  ashore. 

We  had  purchased  our  stores  at  Boston,  with  the  aid  of  my 
generous  friend  Dr.  Parkman  of  that  city ;  but  unfortunately 
many  things  necessary  on  an  expedition  like  ours  were  omitted. 
At  Eastport  in  Maine  we  therefore  laid  in  these  requisites. 
No  traveller,  let  me  say,  ought  to  neglect  anything  that  is 
calculated  to  insure  the  success  of  his  undertaking,  or  to  con- 
tribute to  his  personal  comfort,  when  about  to  set  out  on  a  long 
and  perhaps  hazardous  voyage.  Very  few  opportunities  of 
replenishing  stores  of  provision,  clothing  or  ammunition, 
occur  in  such  a  country  as  Labrador ;  and  yet,  we  all  placed 
too  much  confidence  in  the  zeal  and  foresight  of  our  purvey- 
ors at  Eastport.  We  had  abundance  of  ammunition,  excellent 
bread,  meat  and  potatoes ;  but  the  butter  was  quite  rancid, 
the  oil  only  fit  to  grease  our  guns,  the  vinegar  too  liberally 
diluted  with  cider,  the  mustard  and  pepper  deficient  in  due 
pungency.  All  this,  however,  was  not  discovered  until  it  was 
too  late  to  be  remedied.  Several  of  the  young  men  were  not 
clothed  as  hunters  should  be,  and  some  of  the  guns  were  not 
so  good  as  we  could  have  wished.  We  were,  however,  fortunate 
with  respect  to  our  vessel,  which  was  a  notable  sailer,  did  not 
leak,  had  a  good  crew,  and  was  directed  by  a  capital  seaman. 

The  hold  of  the  schooner  was  floored,  and  an  entrance 
made  to  it  from  the  cabin,  so  that  in  it  we  had  a  very  good  par- 
lor, dining-room,  drawing-room,  library,  &c.,  all  those  apart- 
ments, however,  being  united  into  one.  An  extravagantly 
elongated  deal  table  ranged  along  the  centre ;  one  of  the 
party  had  slung  his  hammock  at  one  end,  and  in  its  vicinity 
slept  the  cook  and  a  lad  who  acted  as  armorer.  The  cabin 
was  small ;  but  being  fitted  in  the  usual  manner  with  side 
berths,  was  used  for  a  dormitory.  It  contained  a  small  table 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  131 

and  a  stove,  the  latter  of  diminutive  size,  but  smoky  enough 
to  discomfit  a  host.  We  had  adopted  in  a  great  measure  the 
clothing  worn  by  the  American  fishermen  on  that  coast, 
namely,  thick  blue  cloth  trousers,  a  comfortable  waistcoat, 
and  a  pea-jacket  of  blanket.  Our  boots  were  large,  round- 
toe'd,  strong,  and  well  studded  with  large  nails  to  prevent 
sliding  on  the  rocks.  Worsted  comforters,  thick  mittens  and 
round  broad-brimmed  hats,  completed  our  dress,  which  was 
more  picturesque  than  fashionable.  As  soon  as  we  had  an 
opportunity,  the  boots  were  exchanged  for  Esquimaux  mounted 
mocassins  of  seal-skin,  impermeable  to  water,  light,  easy  and 
fastening  at  top  about  the  midde  of  the  thigh  to  straps,  which 
when  buckled  over  the  hips  secured  them  well.  To  complete 
our  equipment,  we  had  several  good  boats,  one  of  which  was 
extremely  light  and  adapted  for  shallow  water. 

No  sooner  had  we  reached  the  coast  and  got  into  harbor,  than 
we  agreed  to  follow  certain  regulations  intended  for  the  gene- 
ral benefit.  Every  morning  the  cook  was  called  before  three 
o'clock.  At  half-past  three,  breakfast  was  on  the  table,  and 
everybody  equipped.  The  guns,  ammunition,  botanical  boxes, 
and  baskets  for  eggs  or  minerals,  were  all  in  readiness.  Our 
breakfast  consisted  of  coffee,  bread  and  various  other  materials. 
At  four,  all  except  the  cook  and  one  seaman,  went  off  in 
different  directions,  not  forgetting  to  carry  with  them  a  store 
of  cooked  provisions.  Some  betook  themselves  to  the  islands, 
others  to  the  deep  bays ;  the  latter  on  landing  wandered  over 
the  country,  until  noon,  when  laying  themselves  down  on  the 
rich  moss,  or  sitting  on  the  granite  rock,  they  would  rest  for 
an  hour,  eat  their  dinner,  and  talk  of  their  successes  or  dis- 
appointments. I  often  regret  that  I  did  not  take  sketches 
of  the  curious  groups  formed  by  my  young  friends  on  such 
occasions,  and  when,  after  returning  at  night,  all  were  engaged 
in  measuring,  weighing,  comparing  and  dissecting  the  birds  we 
had  procured,  operations  which  were  carried  on  with  the  aid 
of  a  number  of  candles  thrust  into  the  necks  of  bottles.  Here 


132  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

one  examined  the  flowers  and  leaves  of  a  plant,  there  another 
explored  the  recesses  of  a  diver's  gullet,  while  a  third  skinned 
a  gull  or  a  grouse.  Nor  was  our  journal  forgotten.  Arrange- 
ments were  made  for  the  morrow,  and  at  twelve  we  left 
matters  to  the  management  of  the  cook,  and  retired  to  our 
roosts. 

If  the  wind  blew  hard,  all  went  on  shore,  and,  excepting 
on  a  few  remarkably  rainy  days,  we  continued  our  pursuits 
much  in  the  same  manner  during  our  stay  in  the  country. 
The  physical  powers  of  the  young  men  were  considered  in 
making  our  arrangements.  Shattuck  and  Ingalls  went  to- 
gether ;  the  Captain  and  Cooledge  were  fond  of  each  other, 
the  latter  having  also  been  an  officer ;  Lincoln  and  my  son 
being  the  strongest  and  most  determined  hunters,  generally 
marched  by  themselves ;  and  I  went  with  one  or  other  of  the 
parties  according  to  circumstances,  although  it  was  by  no 
means  my  custom  to  do  so  regularly,  as  I  had  abundance  of 
work  on  hand  in  the  vessel. 

The  return  of  my  young  companions  and  the  sailors  was 
always  looked  for  with  anxiety.  On  getting  on  board,  they 
opened  their  budgets,  and  laid  their  contents  on  the  deck, 
amid  much  merriment,  those  who  had  procured  most  speci- 
mens being  laughed  at  by  those  who  had  obtained  the  rarest, 
and  the  former  joking  the  latter  in  return.  A  substantial 
meal  always  awaited  them,  and  fortunate  we  were  in  having 
a  capital  cook,  although  he  was  a  little  too  fond  of  the  bottle. 

Our  "fourth  of  July"  was  kept  sacred,  and  every  Saturday 
night  the  toast  of  "wives  and  sweethearts"  was  the  first 
given,  "parents  and  friends"  the  last.  Never  was  there  a 
more  merry  set.  Some  with  the  violin  and  flute  accompanied 
the  voices  of  the  rest,  and  few  moments  were  spent  in  idle- 
ness. Before  a  month  had  elapsed,  the  spoils  of  many  a  fine 
bird  hung  around  the  hold ;  shrubs  and  flowers  were  in  the 
press,  and  I  had  several  drawings  finished,  some  of  which  you 
have  seen,  and  of  which  I  hope  you  will  ere  long  see  the  re- 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  133 

malnder.  Large  jars  were  filling  apace  with  the  bodies  of 
rare  birds,  fishes,  quadrupeds  and  reptiles,  as  well  as  mollus- 
cous animals.  We  had  several  pets  too,  Gulls,  Cormorants, 
Guillemots,  Puffins,  Hawks  and  a  Raven.  In  some  of  the 
harbors,  curious  fishes  were  hooked  in  our  sight,  so  clear  was 
the  water. 

We  found  that  camping  out  at  night  was  extremely  un- 
comfortable, on  account  of  the  annoyance  caused  by  flies  and 
musquitoes,  which  attacked  the  hunters  in  swarms  at  all  times, 
but  more  especially  when  they  lay  down,  unless  they  enveloped 
themselves  in  thick  smoke,  which  is  not  much  more  pleasant. 
Once  when  camping,  the  weather  became  very  bad,  and  the 
party  was  twenty  miles  distant  from  Whapatiguan  as  night 
threw  her  mantle  over  the  earth.  The  rain  fell  in  torrents, 
the  north-east  wind  blew  furiously,  and  the  air  was  extremely 
cold.  The  oars  of  the  boat  were  fixed  so  as  to  support  some 
blankets,  and  a  small  fire  was  with  difficulty  kindled,  on  the 
embers  of  which  a  scanty  meal  was  cooked.  How  different 
from  a  camp  on  the  shores  of  the  Mississippi,  where  wood  is 
abundant,  and  the  air  generally  not  lacking  heat,  where  mus- 
quitoes, though  plentiful  enough,  are  not  accompanied  by 
carraboo  flies,  and  where  the  barkings  of  a  joyful  squirrel,  or 
the  notes  of  the  Barred  Owl,  that  grave  buffoon  of  our  western 
woods,  never  fail  to  gladden  the  camper  as  he  cuts  to  the  right 
and  left  such  branches  and  canes  as  most  easily  supply  mate- 
rials for  forming  a  lodging  for  the  night !  On  the  coast  of 
Labrador  there  are  no  such  things ;  granite  and  green  moss 
are  spread  around,  silence  like  that  of  the  grave  envelopes 
all,  and  when  night  has  closed  the  dreary  scene  from  your 
sight,  the  wolves,  attracted  by  the  scent  of  the  remains  of 
your  scanty  repast,  gather  around  you.  Cowards  as  they 
are,  they  dare  not  venture  on  a  charge ;  but  their  bowlings 
effectually  banish  sleep.  You  must  almost  roast  your  feet 
to  keep  them  warm,  while  your  head  and  shoulders  are  chilled 
by  the  blast.  When  morning  comes,  she  smiles  net  on  you  with 


134  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

rosy  cheeks,  but  appears  muffled  in  a  grey  mantle  of  cold 
mist,  which  shows  you  that  there  is  no  prospect  of  a  fine  day. 
The  object  of  the  expedition,  which  was  to  procure  some  Owls 
that  had  been  observed  there  by  day,  was  entirely  frustrated. 
At  early  dawn,  the  party  rose  stiffened  and  dispirited,  and 
glad  were  they  to  betake  themselves  to  their  boats,  and  return 
to  their  floating  home. 

Before  we  left  Labrador,  several  of  my  young  friends  began 
to  feel  the  want  of  suitable  clothing.  The  sailor's  ever-tailor- 
ing system  was,  believe  me,  fairly'  put  to  the  test.  Patches 
of  various  colors  ornamented  knees  and  elbows ;  our  boots 
were  worn  out ;  our  greasy  garments  and  battered  hats  were 
in  harmony  with  our  tanned  and  weather-beaten  faces  ;  and, 
had  you  met  with  us,  you  might  have  taken  us  for  a  squad 
of  wretched  vagrants ;  but  we  were  joyous  in  the  expectation 
of  a  speedy  return,  and  exulted  at  the  thoughts  of  our  success. 

As  the  chill  blast  that  precedes  the  winter's  tempest  thick- 
ened the  fogs  on  the  hills  and  ruffled  the  dark  waters,  each 
successive  day  saw  us  more  anxious  to  leave  the  dreary  wild- 
erness of  grim  rocks  and  desolate  moss-clad  valleys.  Un- 
favorable winds  prevented  us  for  awhile  from  spreading  our 
white  sails ;  but  at  last  one  fair  morning  smiled  on  the  wintry 
world,  the  Ripley  was  towed  from  the  harbor,  her  tackle 
trimmed,  and  as  we  bounded  over  the  billows,  we  turned  our 
eyes  towards  the  wilds  of  Labrabor,  and  heartily  bade  them 
farewell  forever ! 

He  had  previously  visited  the  Florida  Coast,  alone,  in 
1831  and  1832,  and  during  this  expedition  penetrated  the 
interior  by  the  St.  John's  River.  All  this  region,  but  par- 
ticularly the  "Keys,"  is  like  its  Boreal  contrast,  Labrador, 
of  peculiar  interest  to  the  Ornithologist,  as  the  resort  of  my- 
riads of  water-fowl  and  tropical  birds  of  extraordinary  splen- 
dor, lie  says : — 

While  in  this  part  of  the  peninsula,  I  followed  my  usual 
avocations,  although  with  little  success,  it  being  then  winter. 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  135 

I  had  Litters  from  the  Secretaries  of  the  Navy  and  Treasury 
of  the  United  States,  to  the  commanding  officers  of  vessels 
of  war  of  the  revenue  service,  directing  them  to  afford  me 
any  assistance  in  their  power ;  and  the  schooner  Spark  having 
come  to  St.  Augustine,  on  her  way  to  the  St.  John's  River, 
I  presented  my  credentials  to  her  commander,  Lieutenant 
Piercy,  who  readily  and  with  politeness,  received  me  and  my 
assistants  on  board.  We  soon  after  set  sail,  with  a  fair 
breeze.  The  strict  attention  to  duty  on  board  even  this  small 
vessel  of  war,  afforded  matter  of  surprise  to  me.  Everything 
went  on  with  tfys  regularity  of  a  chronometer ;  orders  were 
given,  answered  to  and  accomplished,  before  they  ceased  to 
vibrate  on  the  ear.  The  neatness  of  the  crew  equalled  the 
cleanliness  of  the  white  planks  of  the  deck ;  the  sails  were  in 
perfect  condition ;  and,  built  as  the  Spark  was,  for  swift  sail- 
ing, on  she  went  gambolling  from  wave  to  wave. 

I  thought  that,  while  thus  sailing,  no  feeling  but  that  of 
pleasure  could  exist  in  our  breasts  ;  but,  alas  !  how  fleeting 
are  our  enjoyments.  When  we  were  almost  at  the  entrance 
of  the  river,  the  wind  changed,  the  sky  became  clouded,  and, 
before  many  minutes  had  elapsed,  the  little  bark  was  lying-to 
"like  a  duck,"  as  her  commander  expressed  himself.  It  blew 
a  hurricane : — let  it  blow,  reader.  At  the  break  of  day  wo 
were  again  at  anchor  within  the  bar  of  St.  Augustine. 

Our  next  attempt  was  successful.  Not  many  hours  after 
we  had  crossed  the  bar,  we  perceived  the  star-like  glimmer 
of  the  light  in  the  great  lantern  at  the  entrance  of  the  St. 
John's  River.  This  was  before  day-light ;  and,  as  the  cross- 
ing of  the  sand-banks  or  bars,  which  occur  at  the  mouths  of 
all  the  streams  of  this  peninsula  is  difficult,  and  can  be  accom- 
plished only  when  the  tide  is  up,  one  of  the  guns  was  fired 
as  a  signal  for  the  government  pilot.  The  good  man,  it 
seemed,  was  unwilling  to  leave  his  couch,  but  a  second  gun 
brought  him  in  his  canoe  alongside.  The  depth  of  the  chan- 
nel was  barely  sufficient.  My  eyes,  however,  were  not  di- 


136  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

rected  towards  the  water,  but  on  high,  where  flew  some 
thousands  of  snowy  Pelicans,  which  had  fled  affrighted  from 
their  resting  grounds.  How  beautifully  they  performed  their 
broad  gyrations,  and  how  matchless,  after  awhile,  was  the 
marshalling  of  their  files,  as  they  flew  past  us ! 

On  the  tide  we  proceeded  apace.  Myriads  of  Cormorants 
covered  the  face  of  the  waters,  and  over  it  Fish-Crows  innu- 
merable were  already  arriving  from  their  distant  roosts. 
We  landed  at  one  place  to  search  for  the  birds  whose  charm- 
ing melodies  had  engaged  our  attention,  and  here  and  there 
some  young  Eagles  we  shot,  to  add  to  our  store  of  fresh  pro- 
visions !  The  river  did  not  seem  to  me  equal  in  beauty  to 
the  fair  Ohio ;  the  shores  were  in  many  places  low  and  swampy, 
to  the  great  delight  of  the  numberless  Herons  that  moved 
along  in  gracefulness,  and  the  grim  alligators  that  swam  in 
sluggish  sullenness.  In  going  up  a  bayou,  we  caught  a  great 
number  of  the  young  of  the  latter  for  the  purpose  of  making 
experiments  upon  them. 

After  sailing  a  considerable  way,  during  which  our  com- 
mander and  officers  took  the  soundings,  as  well  as  the  angles 
and  bearings  of  every  nook  and  crook  of  the  sinuous  stream, 
we  anchored  one  evening  at  a  distance  of  fully  one  hundred 
miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river.  The  weather,  although  it 
was  the  12th  of  February,  was  quite  warm,  the  thermometer 
on  board  standing  at  75°,  and  on  shore  at  90°.  The  fog 
was  so  thick  that  neither  of  the  shores  could  be  seen,  and 
yet  the  river  was  not  a  mile  in  breadth.  The  "  blind  mus- 
quitoes"  covered  every  object,  even  in  the  cabin,  and  so  won- 
derfully abundant  were  these  tormentors,  that  they  more 
than  once  fairly  extinguished  the  candles  whilst  I  was  writing 
my  journal,  which  I  closed  in  despair,  crushing  between  the 
leaves  more  than  a  hundred  of  the  little  wretches.  Bad  as 
they  are,  however,  these  blind  musquitoes  do  not  bite.  As  if 
purposely  to  render  our  situation  doubly  uncomfortable,  there 
was  an  establishment  for  jerking  beef,  on  the  nearer  shores 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  137 

to  the  windward  of  our  vessel,  from  which  the  breeze  came 
laden  with  no  sweet  odors. 

In  the  morning  when  I  arose,  the  country  was  still  covered 
with  thick  fogs,  so  that  although  I  could  plainly  hear  the 
notes  of  the  birds  on  shore,  not  an  object  could  I  see  beyond 
the  bowsprit,  and  the  air  was  as  close  and  sultry  as  on  the 
previous  evening.  Guided  by  the  scent  of  the  jerkers'  works, 
we  went  on  shore,  where  we  found  the  vegetation  already  far 
advanced.  The  blossoms  of  the  jessamine,  ever  pleasing,  lay 
steeped  in  dew ;  the  humming  bee  was  collecting  her  winter's 
store  from  the  snowy  flowers  of  the  native  orange ;  and  the 
little  warblers  frisked  along  the  twigs  of  the  smilax.  Now, 
amid  the  tall  pines  of  the  forest,  the  sun's  rays  began  to  force 
their  way,  and  as  the  dense  mists  dissolved  in  the  atmosphere, 
the  bright  luminary  at  length  shone  forth.  We  explored  the 
woods  around,  guided  by  some  friendly  live-oakers  who  had 
pitched  their  camp  in  the  vicinity.  After  awhile  the  Spark 
again  displayed  her  sails,  and  as  she  silently  glided  along, 
we  espied  a  Seminole  Indian  approaching  us  in  his  canoe. 
The  poor  dejected  son  of  the  woods,  endowed  with  talents  of 
the  highest  order,  although  rarely  acknowledged  by  the  proud 
usurpers  of  his  native  soil,  has  spent  the  night  in  fishing,  and 
the  morning  in  procuring  the  superb-feathered  game  of  the 
swampy  thickets ;  and  with  both  he  comes  to  offer  them  for 
our  acceptance.  Alas  !  thou  fallen  one,  descendant  of  an 
ancient  line  of  freeborn  hunters,  would  that  I  could  restore 
to  thee  thy  birthright,  thy  natural  independence,  the  generous 
feelings  that  were  once  fostered  in  thy  brave  bosom.  But 
the  irrevocable  deed  is  done,  and  I  can  merely  admire  the 
perfect  symmetry  of  his  frame,  as  he  dexterously  throws  on 
our  .deck  the  trouts"  and  turkeys  which  he  has  captured.  He 
receives  a  recompense,  and  without  smile  or  bow,  or  acknowl- 
edgment of  any  kind,  off  he  starts  with  the  speed  of  an  arrow 
from  his  own  bow. 

Alligators  were  extremely  abundant,  and  the  heads  of  the 


138  WILD   SCENES   AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

fishes  which  they  had  snapped  off  lay  floating  around  on  the 
dark  waters.  A  rifle  bullet  was  now  and  then  sent  through 
the  eye  of  one  of  the  largest,  which,  with  a  tremendous  splash 
of  its  tail  expired.  One  morning  we  saw  a  monstrous  fellow 
lying  on  the  shore.  I  was  desirous  of  obtaining  him  to  make 
an  accurate  drawing  of  his  head,  and,  accompanied  by  my  as- 
sistant and  two  of  the  sailors,  proceeded  cautiously  towards  him. 
When  within  a  few  yards,  one  of  us  fired  and  sent  through 
his  side  an  ounce  ball,  which  tore  open  a  hole  large  enough 
to  receive  a  man's  hand.  He  slowly  raised  his  head,  bent 
himself  upwards,  opened  his  huge  jaws,  swung  his  tail  to  and 
fro,  rose  on  his  legs,  blew  in  a  frightful  manner,  and  fell  to 
the  earth.  My  assistant  leaped  on  shore,  and  contrary  to 
my  injunctions,  caught  hold  of  the  animal's  tail,  when  the 
alligator,  awakening  from  his  trance,  with  a  last  effort  crawled 
slowly  towards  the  water,  and  plunged  heavily  into  it.  Had 
he  thought  of  once  flourishing  his  tremendous  weapon  there 
might  have  been  an  end  of  his  assailant's  life,  but  he  for- 
funately  went  in  peace  to  his  grave,  where  we  left  him,  as 
the  water  was  too  deep.  The  same  morning,  another  of  equal 
size  was  observed  swimming  directly  for  the  bows  of  our 
vessel,  attracted  by  the  gentle  rippling  of  the  water  there. 
One  of  the  officers,  who  had  watched  him,  fired  and  scattered 
his  brain  through  the  air,  when  he  tumbled  and  rolled  at  a 
fearful  rate,  blowing  all  the  while  most  furiously.  The  river 
was  bloody  for  yards  around,  but  although  the  monster  passed 
close  by  the  vessel,  we  could  not  secure  him,  and  after  awhile 
he  sunk  to  the  bottom. 

Early  one  morning  I  hired  a  boat  and  two  men,  with  the 
view  of  returning  to  St.  Augustine  by  a  short  cut.  Our 
baggage  being  placed  on  board,  I  bade  adieu  to  the  officers, 
and  off  we  started.  About  four  in  the  afternoon  we  arrived 
at  the  short  cut,  forty  miles  distant  from  our  point  of  de- 
parture, and  where  we  had  expected  to  procure  a  wagon,  but 
were  disappointed.  So  we  laid  our  things  on  the  bank,  and, 


ATJDUBON  AND   BOONS.  139 

leaving  one  of  my  assistants  to  look  after  them,  I  set  out, 
accompanied  by  the  other,  and  my  Newfoundland  dog.  We 
had  eighteen  miles  to  go ;  and  as  the  sun  was  only  two  hours 
high,  we  struck  off  at  a  good  rate.  Presently  we  entered  a 
pine  barren.  The  country  was  as  level  as  a  floor ;  our  path, 
although  narrow,  was  well  beaten,  having  been  used  by  the 
Seminole  Indians  for  ages,  and  the  weather  was  calm  and 
beautiful.  Now  and  then  a  rivulet  occurred,  from  which  we 
quenched  our  thirst,  while  the  magnolias  and  other  flowering 
plants  on  its  banks,  relieved  the  dull  uniformity  of  the  woods. 
When  the  path  separated  into  two  branches,  both  seemingly 
leading  the  same  way,  I  would  follow  one,  while  my  com- 
panion took  the  other,  and  unless  we  met  again  in  a  short 
time,  one  of  us  would  go  across  the  intervening  forest. 

The  sun  went  down  behind  a  cloud,  and  the  south-east 
breeze  that  sprung  up  at  this  moment,  sounied  dolefully 
among  the  tall  pines.  Along  the  eastern  horizon  lay  a  bed 
of  black  vapor,  which  gradually  rose,  and  soon  covered  the 
heavens.  The  air  felt  hot  and  oppressive,  and  we  knew  that 
a  tempest  was  approaching.  Plato  was  now  our  guide,  the 
white  spots  on  his  skin  being  the  only  objects  that  we  could 
discern  amid  the  darkness,  and  as  if  aware  of  his  utility  in 
this  respect,  he  kept  a  short  way  before  us  on  the  trail.  Had 
we  imagined  ourselves  more  than  a  few  miles  from  the  town, 
we  would  have  made  a  camp,  and  remained  under  its  shelter 
for  the  night ;  but  conceiving  that  the  distance  could  not  bo 
great,  we  resolved  to  trudge  along. 

Large  drops  began  to  fall  from  the  murky  mass  overhead ; 
thick,  impenetrable  darkness  surrounded  us,  and  to  my  dis- 
may, the  dog  refused  to  proceed.  Groping  with  my  hands 
on  the  ground,  I  discovered  that  several  trails  branched  out 
at  the  spot  where  he  lay  down ;  and  when  I  had  selected  one, 
he  went  on.  Vivid  flashes  of  lightning  streamed  across  the 
heavens,  the  wind  increased  to  a  gale,  and  the  rain  poured 
down  upon  us  like  a  torrent.  The  water  soon  rose  on  the 


140  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

level  ground  so  as  almost  to  cover  our  feet,  and  we  slowly  ad- 
vanced, fronting  the  tempest.  Here  and  there  a  tall  pine  on 
fire  presented  a  magnificent  spectacle,  illumining  the  trees 
around  it,  and  surrounded  with  a  halo  of  dim  light,  abruptly 
bordered  with  the  deep  black  of  the  night.  At  one  time  we 
passed  through  a  tangled  thicket  of  low  trees,  at  another 
crossed  a  stream  flushed  by  the  heavy  rain,  and  again  pro- 
ceeded over  the  open  barrens. 

How  long  we  thus,  half-lost,  groped  our  way,  is  more  than 
I  can  tell  you ;  but  at  length  the  tempest  passed  over,  and 
suddenly  the  clear  sky  became  spangled  with  stars.  Soon 
after  we  smelt  the  salt-marshes,  and  walking  directly  towards 
them,  like  pointers  advancing  on  a  covey  of  partridges,  we  at 
last  to  our  great  joy  descried  the  light  of  the  beacon  near 
St.  Augustine.  My  dog  began  to  run  briskly  around,  having 
met  with  ground  on  which  he  had  hunted  before,  and  taking 
a  direct  course,  led  us  to  the  great  causeway  that  crosses  the 
marshes  at  the  back  of  the  town.  We  refreshed  ourselves 
with  the  produce  of  the  first  orange  tree  that  we  met  with, 
and  in  half  an  hour  more  arrived  at  our  hotel.  Drenched 
with  rain,  steaming  with  perspiration,  and  covered  to  the 
knees  with  mud,  you  may  imagine  what  figures  we  cut  in  the 
eyes  of  the  good  people  whom  we  found  snugly  enjoying 
themselves  in  the  sitting  room.  Next  morning,  Major  Gates, 
who  had  received  me  with  much  kindness,  sent  a  wagon  with 
mules  and  two  trusty  soldiers  for  my  companion  and  luggage. 

Availing  himself  of  his  letters  again,  he  now  went  on  board 
a  revenue  cutter,  the  "Marion." 

As  the  "  Marion"  neared  the  inlet  called  "  Indian  Key," 
which  is  situated  on  the  eastern  coast  of  the  peninsula  of 
Florida,  my  heart  swelled  Avith  uncontrollable  delight.  Our 
vessel  once  over  the  coral  reef  that  every  where  stretches 
along  the  shore  like  a  great  wall,  reared  by  an  army  of  giants, 
we  found  ourselves  in  safe  anchoring  ground,  within  a  few 
furlongs  of  the  land.  The  next  moment  saw  the  oars  of  a 


ADDUBON  AND   BOONE.  141 

boat  propelling  us  towards  the  shore,  and  in  brief  time  we 
stood  on  the  desired  beach.  With  what  delightful  feelings 
did  we  gaze  on  the  objects  around  us  ! — the  gorgeous  flowers, 
the  singular  and  beautiful  plants,  the  luxuriant  trees.  The 
balmy  air  which  we  breathed  filled  us  with  animation,  so  pure 
and  salubrious  did  it  seem  to  be.  The  birds  which  we  saw 
were  almost  all  new  to  us ;  their  lovely  forms  appeared  to  be 
arrayed  in  more  brilliant  apparel  than  I  had  ever  before  seen, 
and  as  they  gambolled  in  happy  playfulness  among  the  bushes, 
or  glided  over  the  light  green  waters,  we  longed  to  form  a 
more  intimate  acquaintance  with  them. 

Students  of  nature  spend  little  time  in  introductions,  espe- 
cially when  they  present  themselves  to  persons  who  feel  an 
interest  in  their  pursuits.  This  was  the  case  with  Mr.  Thruston, 
the  Deputy  Collector  of  the  island,  who  shook  us  all  heartily 
by  the  hand,  and  in  a  trice  had  a  boat  manned  at  our  service. 
Accompanied  by  him,  his  pilot  and  fishermen,  off  we  went, 
and  after  a  short  pull  landed  on  a  large  Key.  Few  minutes 
had  elapsed,  when  shot  after  shot  might  be  heard,  and  down 
came  whirling  through  the  air  the  objects  of  our  desire.  One 
thrust  himself  into  the  tangled  groves  that  covered  all  but  the 
beautiful  coral  beach  that  in  a  continued  line  bordered  the 
island,  while  others  gazed  on  the  glowing  and  diversified  hues 
of  the  curious  inhabitants  of  the  deep.  I  saw  one  of  my  party 
rush  into  the  limpid  element,  to  seize  on  a  crab,  that  with 
claws  extended  upwards,  awaited  his  approach,  as  if  deter- 
mined not  to  give  way.  A  loud  voice  called  him  back  to  the 
land,  for  sharks  are  as  abundant  along  these  shores  as  pebbles, 
and  the  hungry  prowlers  could  not  have  got  a  more  savory 
dinner. 

The  pilot,  besides  being  a  first-rate  shot,  possessed  a  most 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  country.  He  had  been  a 
"conch-diver,"  and  no  matter  what  number  of  fathoms  mea- 
sured the  distance  between  the  surface  of  the  water  and  its 
craggy  bottom,  to  seek  for  curious  shells  in  their  retreat, 


142  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

seemed  to  him  more  pastime  than  toil.  Not  a  Cormorant  or 
Pelican,  a  Flamingo,  an  Ibis,  or  Heron,  had  ever  in  his  days 
formed  its  nest  without  his  having  marked  the  spot ;  and  as 
to  the  Keys  to  which  the  Doves  are  wont  to  resort,  he  was 
better  acquainted  with  them  than  many  fops  are  with  the 
contents  of  their  pockets.  In  a  word,  he  positively  knew 
every  channel  that  led  to  these  islands,  and  every  cranny 
along  their  shores.  For  years  his  employment  had  been  to 
hunt  those  singular  animals  called  Sea  Cows  or  Marratees, 
and  he  had  conquered  hundreds  of  them,  "merely,"  as  he 
said,  because  the  flesh  and  hide  bring  "a  fair  price"  at 
Havanna.  He  never  went  anywhere  to  land  without  "  Long 
Tom,"  which  proved  indeed  to  be  a  wonderful  gun,  and  which 
made  smart  havoc  when  charged  with  "  groceries,"  a  term  by 
which  he  designated  the  large  shot  which  he  used.  In  like 
manner,  he  never  paddled  his  light  canoe  without  having  by 
his  side  the  trusty  javelin,  with  which  he  unerringly  trans- 
fixed such  fishes  as  he  thought  fit  either  for  market  or  for  his 
own  use.  In  attacking  turtles,  netting,  or  overturning  them, 
I  doubt  if  his  equal  ever  lived  on  the  Florida  coast.  No 
sooner  was  he  made  acquainted  with  my  errand,  than  he 
freely  offered  his  best  services,  and  from  that  moment  until  1 
left  Key  West,  he  was  seldom  out  of  my  hearing. 

While  the  young  gentlemen  who  accompanied  us  were 
engaged  in  procuring  plants,  shells,  and  small  birds,  he 
tapped  me  on  the  shoulder,  and  with  a  smile  said  to  me, 
"  Come  along,  I'll  show  you  something  better  worth  your 
while."  To  the  boat  we  betook  ourselves,  with  the  Captain 
and  only  a  pair  of  tars,  for  more  he  said  would  not  answer. 
The  yawl  for  awhile  was  urged  at  a  great  rate,  but  as  we 
approached  a  point,  the  oars  were  taken  in,  and  the  pilot 
alone  skulling,  desired  us  to  make  ready,  for  in  a  few  minutes 
we  should  have  "rare  sport."  As  we  advanced,  the  more 
slowly  did  we  move,  and  the  most  profound  silence  was  main- 
tained, until  suddenly  coming  almost  in  contact  with  a  thick 


AUDUBOff  AND   BOOXE.  143 

Bnrubbery  of  mangroves,  "we  beheld,  right  before  us,  a  multi- 
tude of  pelicans.  A  discharge  of  artillery  seldom  produced 
more  effect; — the  dead,  the  dying,  and  the  wounded,  fell 
from  the  trees  upon  the  water,  while  those  unscathed  flew 
streaming  through  the  air  in  terror  and  dismay.  "  There," 
said  he,  "did  not  I  tell  you  so;  is  it  not  rare  sport?"  The 
birds,  one  after  another,  were  lodged  under  the  gunwales, 
when  the  pilot  desired  the  Captain  to  order  the  lads  to  pull 
away.  Within  about  half  a  mile  we  reached  the  extremity 
of  the  Key.  "  Pull  away,"  cried  the  pilot,  "  never  mind  them 
.on  the  wing,  for  those  black  rascals  don't  mind  a  little  firing 
— now,  boys,  lay  her  close  under  the  nests."  And  there  we 
were,  with  four  hundred  cormorants'  nests  over  our  heads. 
The  birds  were  sitting,  and  when  we  fired,  the  number  that 
dropped  as  if  dead  and  plunged  into  the  water  was  such,  that 
I  thought  by  some  unaccountable  means  or  other  we  had 
killed  the  whole  colony.  You  would  have  smiled  at  the  loud 
laugh  and  curious  gestures  of  the  pilot.  "  Gentlemen,"  said 
he,  "almost  a  blank  shot!"  And  so  it  was,  for,  on  following 
the  birds  as  one  after  another  peeped  up  from  the  water,  we 
found  only  a  few  unable  to  take  to  wing.  "Now,"  said  the 
pilot,  "  had  you  waited  until  I  had  spoken  to  the  black  vil- 
lains, you  might  have  killed  a  score  or  more  of  them."  On 
inspection,  we  found  that  our  shots  had  lodged  in  the  tough 
dry  twigs  of  which  these  birds  form  their  nests,  and  that  we 
had  lost  the  more  favorable  opportunity  of  hitting  them,  by 
not  waiting  until  they  rose.  "Never  mind,"  said  the  pilot, 
"  if  you  wish  it,  you  may  load  the  Lady  of  the  Green  Mantle* 
with  them  in  less  than  a  week.  Stand  still,  my  lads ;  and 
now,  gentlemen,  in  ten  minutes  you  and  I  will  bring  down 
a  score  of  them."  And  so  we  did.  As  we  rounded  the 
island,  a  beautiful  bird  of  the  species  called  Peale's  Egret, 
came  up  and  was  shot.  We  now  landed,  took  in  the  rest  of 

*  The  name  given  by  the  ^wreckers  and  smugglers  to  the  Marion. 


144  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

our  party,  and  returned  to  Indian  Key,  where  we  arrived 
three  hours  before  sunset 

The  sailors  and  other  individuals  to  whom  my  name  and 
pursuits  had  become  known,  carried  our  birds  to  the  pilot's 
house.  His  good  wife  had  a  room  ready  for  me  to  draw  in, 
and  my  assistant  might  have  been  seen  busily  engaged  in 
skinning,  while  George  Lehman  was  making  a  sketch  of  the 
lovely  isle. 

Time  is  ever  precious  to  the  student  of  nature.  I  placed 
several  birds  in  their  natural  attitudes,  and  began  to  outline 
them.  A  dance  had  been  prepared  also,  and  no  sooner  was 
the  sun  lost  to  our  eye,  than  males  and  females,  including 
our  captain  and  others  from  the  vessel,  were  seen  advancing 
gaily  towards  the  house  in  full  apparel.  The  birds  were 
skinned,  the  sketch  was  on  paper,  and  I  told  my  young  men 
to  amuse  themselves.  As  to  myself,  I  could  not  join  in  tho 
merriment,  for,  full  of  the  remembrance  of  you,  reader,  and 
of  the  patrons  of  my  work  both  in  America  and  in  Europe,  I 
went  on  "grinding" — not  on  an  organ,  like  the  Lady  of  Bras 
d'Or,  but  on  paper,  to  the  finishing,  not  merely  of  my  out- 
lines, but  of  my  notes  respecting  the  objects  seen  this  day. 

The  room  adjoining  that  in  which  I  worked,  was  soon  filled. 
Two  miserable  fiddlers  screwed  their  screeching  silken  stringa 
— not  an  inch  of  catgut  graced  their  instruments ;  and  the 
bouncing  of  brave  lads  and  fair  lasses  shook  the  premises  to 
the  foundation.  One  with  a  slip  came  down  heavily  on  the 
floor,  and  the  burst  of  laughter  that  followed  echoed  over  the 
isle.  Diluted  claret  was  handed  round  to  cool  the  ladies, 
while  a  beverage  of  more  potent  energies  warmed  their  part- 
ners. After  supper  our  captain  returned  to  the  Marion,  and 
J,  with  my  young  men,  slept  in  light  swinging  hammocks, 
under  the  eaves  of  the  piazza. 

It  was  the  end  of  April,  when  the  nights  were  short  and 
the  days  therefore  long.  Anxious  to  turn  every  moment  to 
account,  we  were  on  board  Mr.  Thruston's  boat  at  three  next 


ATJDUBON  AND   BOONE.  145 

morning.  Pursuing  our  way  through  the  deep  and  tortuous 
channels  that  everywhere  traverse  the  immense  muddy  soap- 
like  flats  that  stretch  from  the  outward  Keys  to  the  Main, 
•we  proceeded  on  our  voyage  of  discovery.  Here  and  there 
we  met  with  great  beds  of  floating  sea-weeds,  which  showed 
us  that  turtles  were  abundant  there,  these  masses  being  the 
refuse  of  their  feeding.  On  talking  to  Mr.  Thruston  of  the 
nature  of  these  muddy  flats,  he  mentioned  that  he  had  once 
been  lost  amongst  their  narrow  channels  for  several  days  and 
nights,  when  in  pursuit  of  some  smugglers'  boat,  the  owners 
of  which  were  better  acquainted  with  the  place  than  the  men 
who  were  along  with  him.  Although  in  full  sight  of  several 
of  the  Keys,  as  well  as  of  the  main  land,  he  was  unable  to 
reach  either,  until  a  heavy  gale  raised  the  water,  when  he 
sailed  directly  over  the  flats,  and  returned  home  almost  ex- 
hausted with  fatigue  and  hunger.  His  present  pilot  often 
alluded  to  the  circumstance  afterwards,  ending  with  a  great 
laugh,  and  asserting  that  had  he  "been  there,  the  rascals 
would  not  have  escaped." 

Coming  under  a  Key  on  which  multitudes  of  Frigate  Peli- 
cans had  begun  to  form  their  nests,  we  shot  a  good  number 
of  them,  and  observed  their  habits.  The  boastings  of  our 
pilot  were  here  confirmed  by  the  exploits  which  he  performed 
with  his  long  gun,  and  on  several  occasions  he  brought  down 
a  bird  from  a  height  of  fully  a  hundred  yards.  The  poor 
birds,  unaware  of  the  range  of  our  artillery,  sailed  calmly 
along,  so  that  it  was  not  difficult  for  "Long  Tom,"  or  rather 
for  its  owner,  to  furnish  us  with  as  many  as  we  required. 
The  day  was  spent  in  this  manner,  and  towards  night  we 
returned,  laden  with  booty,  to  the  hospitable  home  of  the 
pilot. 

The  next  morning  was  delightful.  The  gentle  sea-breeze 
glided  over  the  flowery  isle,  the  horizon  was  clear,  and  all 
was  silent  save  the  long  breakers  that  rushed  over  the  distant 
reefs.  As  we  were  proceeding  towards  some  Keys,  seldom 

10 


146  WILD   SCENES   AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

yisited  by  men,  the  sun  rose  from  the  bosom  of  the  waters 
with  a  burst  of  glory  that  flashed  on  my  soul  the  idea  of  that 
power  which  called  into  existence  so  magnificent  an  object. 
The  moon,  thin  and  pale,  as  if  ashamed  to  show  her  feeblo 
light,  concealed  herself-  in  the  dim  west.  The  surface  of  the 
waters  shone  in  its  tremulous  smoothness,  and  the  deep  blue 
of  the  clear  heavens  was  pure  as  the  world  that  lies  beyond 
them.  The  Heron  heavily  flew  towards  the  land,  like  the 
glutton  retiring  at  day-break,  with  well-lined  paunch,  from 
the  house  of  some  wealthy  patron  of  good  cheer.  The  Night 
Heron  and  the  Owl,  fearful  of  day,  with  hurried  flight  sought 
safety  in  the  recesses  of  the  deepest  swamps ;  while  the  Gulls 
and  Terns,  ever  cheerful,  gambolled  over  the  water,  exulting 
in  the  prospect  of  abundance.  I  also  exulted  in  hope ;  my 
whole  frame  seemed  to  expand ;  and  our  sturdy  crew  showed, 
by  their  merry  faces,  that  nature  had  charms  for  them  too. 
How  much  of  beauty  and  joy  is  lost  to  those  who  never  view 
the  rising  sun,  and  of  whose  waking  existence  the  best  half  is 
nocturnal ! 

Twenty  miles  our  men  had  to  row  before  we  reached 
"  Sandy  Island,"  and  as  on  its  level  shores  we  all  leaped,  we 
plainly  saw  the  southernmost  cape  of  the  Floridas.  The 
flocks  of  birds  that  covered  the  shelly  beaches,  and  those 
hovering  over  head  so  astonished  us,  that  we  could  for  awhile 
scarcely  believe  our  eyes.  The  first  volley  procured  a  supply 
of  food  sufficient  for  two  days'  consumption.  Such  tales,  you 
have  already  been  told,  are  well  enough  at  a  distance  from 
the  place  to  which  they  refer ;  but  you  will  doubtless  be  still 
more  surprised,  when  I  tell  you  that  our  first  fire  among  a 
crowd  of  the  Great  Godwits  laid  prostrate  sixty-five  of  these 
birds.  Rose-colored  Curlews  stalked  gracefully  beneath  the 
mangroves ;  Purple  Herons  rose  at  almost  every  step  we 
took,  and  each  cactus  supported  the  nest  of  a  White  Ibis. 
The  air  was  darkened  by  whistling  wings,  while,  on  the  waters, 
floated  Gallinules  and  other  interesting  birds.  We  formed  a 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  147 

kind  of  shed  with  sticks  and  grass,  the  sailor  cov/k  commenced 
his  labors,  and-  ere  long  we  supplied  the  deficiencies  of  our 
fatigued  frames.  The  business  of  the  day  over,  we  secured 
ourselves  from  insects  by  means  of  musquito-nets,  and  were 
lulled  to  rest  by  the  cacklings  of  the  beautiful  Purple  Galli- 
nules ! 

When  we  had  lain  ourselves  down  in  the  sand  to  sleep,  the 
waters  almost  bathed  our  feet ;  when  we  opened  our  eyes  in  the 
morning,  they  were  at  an  immense  distance.  Our  boat  lay 
on  her  side,  looking  not  unlike  a  whale  reposing  on  a  mud- 
bank.  The  birds  in  myriads  were  probing  their  exposed 
pasture-ground.  There  great  flocks  of  Ibises  fed  apart  from 
equally  large  collections  of  Godwits,  and  thousands  of  Herons 
gracefully  paced  along,  ever  and  anon  thrusting  their  javelin 
bills  into  the  body  of  some  unfortunate  fish  confined  in  a  small 
pool  of  water.  Of  Fish-Crows  I  could  not  estimate  the 
number,  but  from  the  havoc  they  made  among  the  crabs,  I 
conjecture  that  these  animals  must  have  been  scarce  by  the 
time  of  next  ebb.  Frigate  Pelicans  chased  the  Jager,  which 
himself  had  just  robbed  a  poor  Gull  of  its  prize,  and  all  the 
Gallinules  ran  with  spread  wings  from  the  mud-banks  to  the 
thickets  of  the  island,  so  timorous  had  they  become  when 
they  perceived  us. 

Surrounded  as  we  were  by  so  many  objects  that  allured  us, 
not  one  could  we  yet  attain,  so  dangerous  would  it  have  been 
to  venture  on  the  mud ;  and  our  pilot  having  assured  us  that 
nothing  could  be  lost  by  waiting,  spoke  of  our  eating,  and  on 
this  hint  told  us  that  he  would  take  us  to  a  part  of  the  island 
where  "our  breakfast  would  be  abundant,  although  uncooked." 
Off  we  went,  some  of  the  sailors  carrying  baskets,  others 
large  tin  pans  and  wooden  vessels,  such  as  they  use  for  eating 
their  meals  in.  Entering  a  thicket  of  about  an  acre  in  extent, 
we  found  on  every  bush  several  nests  of  the  Ibis,  each  con- 
taining three  large  and  beautiful  eggs,  and  all  hands  fell  to 
gathering.  The  birds  gave  way  to  us,  and  ere  long  we  had 


148  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

a  heap  of  eggs  that  promised  delicious  food.  Nor  did  wo 
stand  long  in  expectation,  for,  kindling  a  fire,  we  soon  pre- 
pared, in  one  way  or  other,  enough  to  satisfy  the  cravings  of 
our  hungry  maAvs.  Breakfast  ended,  the  pilot,  looking  at 
the  gorgeous  sunrise,  said,  "  Gentlemen,  prepare  yourselves 
for  fun,  the  tide  is  acoming." 

Over  these  enormous  mud-flats,  a  foot  or  two  of  water  ia 
quite  sufficient  to  drive  all  the  birds  ashore,  even  the  tallest 
Heron  or  Flamingo,  and  the  tide  seems  to  flow  at  once  over 
the  whole  expanse.  Each  of  us  provided  with  a  gun,  posted 
himself  behind  a  bush,  and  no  sooner  had  the  water  forced 
the  winged  creatures  to  approach  the  shore,  than  the  work  of 
destruction  commenced.  When  it  at  length  ceased,  the  col- 
lected mass  of  birds  of  different  kinds  looked  not  unlike  a 
small  haycock.  Who  could  not  with  a  little  industry  have 
helped  himself  to  a  few  of  their  skins  ?  Why,  reader,  surely 
no  one  as  fond  of  these  things  as  I  am.  Every  one  assisted 
in  this,  and  even  the  sailors  themselves  tried  their  hand  at  the 
work. 

Our  pilot,  good  man,  told  us  he  was  no  hand  at  such  occu- 
pations, and  would  go  after  something  else.  So  taking  Long 
Tom  and  his  fishing-tackle,  he  marched  off  quietly  along  the 
shores.  About  an  hour  afterwards  we  saw  him  returning, 
when  he  looked  quite  exhausted,  and  on  our  inquiring  the 
cause,  said,  "  There  is  a  dew-fish  yonder  and  a  few  bala- 
coudas,  but  I  am  not  able  to  bring  them,  or  even  to  haul 
them  here ;  please  send  the  sailors  after  them."  The  fishes 
were  accordingly  brought,  and  as  I  had  never  seen  a  dew-fish, 
I  examined  it  closely,  and  took  an  outline  of  its  form,  which 
some  days  hence  you  may  perhaps  see.  It  exceeded  a  hun- 
dred pounds  in  weight,  and  afforded  excellent  eating.  The 
balacouda  is  also  a  good  fish,  but  at  times  a  dangerous  one, 
for,  according  to  the  pilot,  on  more  than  one  occasion  "  some 
of  these  gentry"  had  followed  him  when  waist-deep  in  tho 
water,  in  pursuit  of  a  more  valuable  prize,  until  in  self-defence 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  149 

he  had  to  spear  them,  fearing  that  "the  gentleman"  might  at 
one  dart  cut  off  his  legs,  or  some  other  nice  bit,  with  which 
he  was  unwilling  to  part. 

Having  filled  our  cask  from  a  fine  well  long  since  dug  in 
the  sand  of  Cape  Sable,  either  by  Seminole  Indians  or  pirates, 
no  matter  which,  we  left  Sandy  Isle  about  full  tide,  and  pro- 
ceeded homewards,  giving  a  call  here  and  there  at  different 
keys,  with  the  view  of  procuring  rare  birds,  and  also  their 
nests  and  eggs.  "We  had  twenty  miles  to  go  "  as  the  birds 
fly,"  but  the  tortuosity  of  the  channels  rendered  our  course 
fully  a  third  longer.  The  sun  was  descending  fast,  when  a 
black  cloud  suddenly  obscured  the  majestic  orb.  Our  sails 
swelled  by  a  breeze  that  was  scarcely  felt  by  us,  and  the 
pilot,  requesting  us  to  sit  on  the  weather  gunwale,  told  us 
that  we  were  "going  to  get  it."  One  sail  was  hauled  in  and 
secured,  and  the  other  was  reefed,  although  the  wind  had  not 
increased.  A  low  murmuring  noise  was  heard,  and  across 
the  cloud  that  now  rolled  along  in  tumultuous  masses,  shot 
vivid  flashes  of  lightning.  Our  experienced  guide  steered 
directly  across  a  flat  towards  the  nearest  land.  The  sailors 
passed  their  quids  from  one  cheek  to  the  other,  and  our  pilot 
having  covered  himself  with  his  oil-jacket,  we  followed  his 
example.  "Blow,  sweet  breeze,"  cried  he  at  the  tiller,  and 
"we'll  reach  land  before  the  blast  overtakes  us,  for,  ggntle- 
men,  it  is  a  furious  cloud  yon." 

A  furious  cloud  indeed  was  the  one  which  now,  like  an  eagle 
on  outstretched  wings,  approached  so  swiftly,  that  one  might 
have  deemed  it  in  haste  to  destroy  us.  We  were  not  more 
than  a  cable's  length  from  the  shore,  when,  with  imperative 
voice,  the  pilot  calmly  said  to  us,  "  Sit  quite  still,  gentlemen, 
for  I  should  not  like  to  lose  you  overboard  just  now;  the  boat 
can't  upset,  my  word  for  that,  if  you  will  but  sit  still — here 
we  have  it !" 

Reader,  persons  who  have  never  witnessed  a  hurricane, 
such  as  not  unfrequently  desolates  the  sultry  climates  of  the 


150  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

south,  can  scarcely  form  an  idea  of  their  terrific  grandeur. 
One  would  think  that,  not  content  with  laying  waste  all  on 
land,  it  must  needs  sweep  the  waters  of  the  shallows  quite 
dry,  to  quench  its  thirst.  No  respite  for  an  instant  does  it 
afford  to  the  objects  within  the  reach  of  its  furious  current. 
Like  the  scythe  of  the  destroying  angel,  it  cuts  every  thing 
by  the  roots,  as  it  were,  with  the  careless  ease  of  the  expe- 
rienced mower.  Each  of  its  revolving  sweeps  collects  a  heap 
that  might  be  likened  to  the  full  sheaf  which  the  husbandman 
flings  by  his  side.  On  it  goes  with  a  wildness  and  fury  that 
are  indescribable ;  and  when  at  last  its  frightful  blasts  have 
ceased,  Nature,  weeping  and  disconsolate,  is  left  bereaved  of 
her  beauteous  offspring.  In  some  instances,  even  a  full  cen- 
tury is  required,  before,  with  all  her  powerful  energies,  she 
can  repair  her  loss.  The  planter  has  not  only  lost  his  man- 
sion, his  crops,  and  his  flocks,  but  he  has  to  clear  his  lands 
anew,  covered  and  entangled  as  they  are  with  the  trunks  and 
branches  of  trees  that  are  every  where  strewn.  The  bark 
overtaken  by  the  storm,  is  cast  on  the  lee-shore,  and  if  any 
are  left  to  witness  the  fatal  results,  they  are  the  "wreckers" 
alone,  who,  with  inward  delight,  gaze  upon  the  melancholy 
spectacle. 

Our  light  bark  shivered  like  a  leaf  the  instant  the  blast 
reached  her  sides.  We  thought  she  had  gone  over ;  but  the 
next  instant  she  was  on  the  shore.  And  now  in  contempla- 
tion of  the  sublime  and  awful  storm,  I  gazed  around  me.  The 
waters  drifted  like  snow ;  the  tough  mangroves  hid  their  tops 
amid  their  roots,  and  the  loud  roaring  of  the  waves  driven 
among  them,  blended  with  the  howl  of  the  tempest.  It  was 
not  rain  that  fell ;  the  masses  of  water  flew  in  a  horizontal 
direction,  and  where  a  part  of  my  body  was  exposed,  I  felt 
as  if  a  smart  blow  had  been  given  me  on  it.  But  enough  ! — 
in  half  an  hour  it  was  over.  The  pure  blue  sky  once  more 
embellished  the  heavens,  and  although  it  was  now  quite  night, 
we  considered  our  situation  a  good  one. 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  151 

The  crew  and  some  of  the  party  spent  the  night  in  the 
boat.  The  pilot,  myself,  and  one  of  my  assistants,  took  to 
the  heart  of  the  mangroves,  and,  having  found  high  land,  we 
made  a  fire  as  well  as  we  could,  spread  a  tarpauling,  and 
fixing  our  insect  bars  over  us,  soon  forgot  in  sleep  the  horrors 
that  had  surrounded  us. 

Next  day,  the  Marion  proceeded  on  her  cruise,  and  in  a 
few  more  days,  having  anchored  in  another  safe  harbor,  we 
visited  other  Keys,  of  which  I  will,  with  your  leave,  give  you 
a  short  account. 

The  Deputy-Collector  of  Indian  Isle  gave  me  the  use  of  his 
pilot  for  a  few  weeks,  and  I  was  the  more  gratified  by  this, 
that  besides  knowing  him  to  be  a  good  man  and  a  perfect 
sailor,  I  was  now  convinced  that  he  possessed  a  great  knowl- 
edge of  the  habits  of  birds,  and  could  without  loss  of  time 
lead  me  to  their  haunts.  We  were  a  hundred  miles  or  so 
farther  to  the  south.  Gay  May,  like  a  playful  babe,  gam- 
bolled on  the  bosom  of  his  mother  nature,  and  every  thing 
was  replete  with  life  and  joy.  The  pilot  had  spoken  to  me 
of  some  birds,  which  I  was  very  desirous  of  obtaining.  One 
morning,  therefore,  we  went  in  two  boats  to  some  distant  isle, 
where  they  were  said  to  breed.  Our  difficulties  in  reaching 
that  Key  might  to  some  seem  more  imaginary  than  real,  were 
I  faithfully  to  describe  them.  Suffice  it  for  me  to  tell  you, 
that  after  hauling  our  boats,  and  pushing  them  with  our 
hands,  for  upwards  of  nine  miles,  over  the  flats,  we  at  last 
reached  the  deep  channel  that  usually  surrounds  each  of  the 
mangrove  islands.  We  were  much  exhausted  by  the  labor 
and  excessive  heat,  but  we  were  now  floating  on  deep  water, 
and  by  resting  a  short  while  under  the  shade  of  some  man- 
groves, we  were  soon  refreshed  by  the  breeze  that  gently 
blew  from  the  Gulf.  We  further  repaired  our  strength  by 
taking  some  food ;  and  I  may  as  well  tell  you  here,  that 
during  all  the  time  I  spent  in  that  portion  of  the  Floridas, 
my  party  restricted  themselves  to  fish  and  soaked  biscuit, 


152  WILD   SCENES  AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

while  our  only  and  constant  beverage  was  water  and  molasses, 
I  found  that  in  these  warm  latitudes,  exposed  as  we  constantly 
were  to  alternate  heat  and  moisture,  ardent  spirits  and  more 
substantial  food  would  prove  dangerous  to  us.  The  officers, 
and  those  persons  who  from  time  to  time  kindly  accompanied 
us,  adopted  the  same  regimen,  and  not  an  individual  of  us 
had  ever  to  complain  of  so  much  as  a  headache. 

But  we  were  under  the  mangroves — at  a  great  distance  on 
one  of  the  flats,  the  Heron,  which  I  have  named  Ardea  occi- 
dentalis,  was  seen  moving  majestically  in  great  numbers. 
The  tide  rose  and  drove  them  away,  and  as  they  came  towards 
us,  to  alight  and  rest  for  a  time  on  the  tallest  trees,  we  shot 
as  many  as  I  wished.  I  also  took  under  my  charge  several 
of  their  young,  alive. 

At  another  time  we  visited  the  "Mule  Keys."  There  the 
prospect  was  in  many  respects  dismal  in  the  extreme.  As  I 
followed  their  shores,  I  saw  bales  of  cotton  floating  in  all  the 
coves,  while  spars  of  every  description  lay  on  the  beach,  and 
far  off  on  the  reefs  I  could  see  the  last  remains  of  a  lost  ship, 
her  dismantled  hulk.  Several  schooners  were  around  her; 
they  were  wreckers.  I  turned  me  from  the  sight  with  a 
heavy  heart.  Indeed,  as  I  slowly  proceeded,  I  dreaded  to 
meet  the  floating  or  cast  ashore  bodies  of  some  of  the  unfortu- 
nate crew.  Our  visit  to  the  Mule  Keys  was  in  no  way  pro- 
fitable, for,  besides  meeting  with  but  a  few  birds  in  two  or 
three  instances,  I  was,  whilst  swimming  in  the  deep  channel 
of  a  mangrove  isle,  much  nearer  a  large  shark  than  I  wish 
ever  to  be  again. 

"The  service"  requiring  all  the  attention,  prudence  and 
activity  of  Captain  Day  and  his  gallant  officers,  another  cruise 
took  place,  of  which  you  will  find  some  account  in  the  sequel ; 
and,  while  I  rest  a  little  on  the  deck  of  the  Lady  of  the 
Green  Mantle,  let  me  offer  my  humble  thanks  to  the  Being 
who  has  allowed  me  the  pleasure  of  thus  relating  to  you,  kind 
reader,  a  small  part  of  my  adventures. 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  153 

Admitted  by  Nature  to  her  most  tender  confidences,  the 
Hunter-Naturalist  seems  also  to  have  been  chosen  as  the 
favored  intim'ate  of  her  convulsed  and  most  terrible  moods. 
We  have  seen  him  here  ride  unharmed  amidst  the  hurricane 
of  the  Tropics,  let  us  now  turn  to  him  standing  secure  "  a 
looker-on,"  beside  its  fearful  track  in  the  West.  He  thus 
describes  the  scene : — 

I  had  left  the  village  of  Shawney,  situated  on  the  banks  of 
the  Ohio,  on  my  return  from  Henderson,  which  is  also  situated 
on  the  banks  of  the  same  beautiful  stream.  The  weather 
was  pleasant,  and  I  thought  not  warmer  than  usual  at  that 
season.  My  horse  was  jogging  quietly  along,  and  my  thoughts 
were,  for  once  at  least  in  the  course  of  my  life,  entirely  en- 
gaged in  commercial  speculations.  I  had  forded  Highland 
Creek,  and  was  on  the  eve  of  entering  a  tract  of  bottom  land 
or  valley  that  lay  between  it  and  Canoe  Creek,  when  on  a 
sudden  I  remarked  a  great  difference  in  the  aspect  of  the 
heavens.  A  hazy  thickness  had  overspread  the  country,  and  I 
for  some  time  expected  an  earthquake,  but  my  horse  exhibited 
no  propensity  to  stop  and  prepare  for  such  an  occurrence. 
I  had  nearly  arrived  at  the  verge  of  the  valley,  when  I 
thought  fit  to  stop  near  a  brook,  and  dismounted  to  quench 
the  thirst  which  had  come  upon  me. 

I  was  leaning  on  my  knees,  with  my  lips  about  to  touch 
the  water,  when,  from  my  proximity  to  the  earth,  I  heard  a 
distant  murmuring  sound  of  an  extraordinary  nature.  I 
drank,  however,  and  as  I  rose  on  my  feet,  looked  towards 
the  south-west,  where  I  observed  a  yellowish  oval  spot,  the 
appearance  of  which  was  quite  new  to  me.  Little  time  was 
left  me  for  consideration,  as  the  next  moment  a  smart  breeze 
began  to  agitate  the  taller  trees.  It  increased  to  an  unex- 
pected height,  and  already  the  smaller  branches  and  twigs  were 
seen  falling  in  a  slanting  direction  towards  the  ground.  Two 
minutes  had  scarcely  elapsed,  when  the  whole  forest  before 
me  was  in  fearful  motion.  Here  and  there,  where  one  tree 


154  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

pressed  against  another,  a  creaking  noise  was  produced, 
similar  to  that  occasioned  by  the  violent  gusts  which  some- 
times sweep  over  the  country.  Turning  instinctively  towards 
the  direction  from  which  the  wind  blew,  I  saw  to  my  great 
astonishment,  that  the  noblest  trees  of  the  forest  bent  their 
lofty  heads  for  a  while,  and  unable  to  stand  against  the  blast, 
were  falling  into  pieces.  First,  the  branches  were  broken 
off  with  a  crackling  noise ;  then  went  the  upper  part  of  the 
massy  trunks ;  and  in  many  places  whole  trees  of  gigantic 
size  were  falling  entire  to  the  ground.  So  rapid  was  the  pro- 
gress of  the  storm,  that  before  I  could  think  of  taking  mea- 
sures to  insure  my  safety,  the  hurricane  was  passing  opposite 
the  place  where  I  stood.  Never  can  I  forget  the  scene  which 
at  that  moment  presented  itself.  The  tops  of  the  trees  were 
seen  moving  in  the  strangest  manner,  in  the  central  current 
of  the  tempest,  which  carried  along  with  it  a  mingled  mass 
of  twigs  and  foliage,  that  completely  obscured  the  view. 
Some  of  the  largest  trees  were  seen  bending  and  writhing 
under  the  gale ;  others  suddenly  snapped  across ;  and  many, 
after  a  momentary  resistance,  fell  uprooted  to  the  earth. 
The  mass  of  branches,  twigs,  foliage  and  dust  that  moved 
through  the  air,  was  whirled  onwards  like  a  cloud  of  feathers, 
and  on  passing,  disclosed  a  wide  space  filled  with  fallen  trees, 
naked  stumps  and  heaps  of  shapeless  ruins,  which  marked 
the  path  of  the  tempest.  This  space  was  about  a  fourth  of  a 
mile  in  breadth,  and  to  my  imagination  resembled  the  dried- 
up  bed  of  the  Mississippi,  Avith  its  thousands  of  planters  and 
sawyers,  strewed  in  the  sand,  and  inclined  in  various  degrees. 
The  horrible  noise  resembled  that  of  the  great  cataracts  of 
Niagara,  and  as  it  howled  along  in  the  track  of  the  desolating 
tempest,  produced  a  feeling  in  my  mind  which  it  were  im- 
possible to  describe. 

The  principal  force  of  the  hurricane  was  now  over,  although 
millions  of  twigs  and  small  branches,  that  had  been  brought 
from  a  great  distance,  were  seen  following  the  blast,  as  if 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  155 

drawn  onwards  by  some  mysterious  power.  They  even  floated 
in  the  air  for  some  hours  after,  as  if  supported  by  the  thick 
mass  of  dust  that  rose  high  above  the  ground.  The  sky  had 
now  a  greenish  lurid  hue,  and  an  extremely  disagreeable  sul- 
phureous odor  was  diffused  in  the  atmosphere.  I  waited  in 
amazement,  having  sustained  no  material  injury,  until  nature 
at  length  resumed  her  wonted  aspect.  For  some  moments,  I 
felt  undetermined  whether  I  should  return  to  Morgantown, 
or  attempt  to  force  my  way  through  the  wrecks  of  the  tem- 
pest. My  business,  however,  being  of  an  urgent  nature,  I 
ventured  into  the  path  of  the  storm,  and  after  encountering 
innumerable  difficulties,  succeeded  in  crossing  it.  I  was 
obliged  to  lead  my  horse  by  the  bridle,  to  enable  him  to  leap 
over  the  fallen  trees,  whilst  I  scrambled  over  or  under  them 
in  the  best  way  I  could,  at  times  so  hemmed  in  by  the  broken 
tops  and  tangled  branches,  as  almost  to  become  desperate. 
On  arriving  at  my  house,  I  gave  an  account  of  what  I  had 
seen,  when,  to  my  surprise,  I  was  told  that  there  had  been 
very  little  wind  in  the  neighborhood,  although  in  the  streets 
and  gardens  many  branches  and  twigs  had  fallen  in  a  manner 
which  excited,  great  surprise. 

Many  wondrous  accounts  of  the  devastating  effects  of  this 
hurricane  were  circulated  in  the  country,  after  its  occurrence. 
Some  log  houses,  we  were  told,  had  been  overturned,  and 
their  inmates  destroyed.  One  person  informed  me  that  a 
wire-sifter  had  been  conveyed  by  the  gust  to  a  distance  of 
many  miles.  Another  had  found  a  cow  lodged  in  the  fork  of 
a  large  half-broken  tree.  But,  as  I  am  disposed  to  relate 
only  what  I  have  myself  seen,  I  shall  not  lead  you  into  the 
region  of  romance,  but  shall  content  myself  with  saying  that 
much  damage  was  done  by  this  awful  visitation.  The  valley 
is  yet  a  desolate  place,  overgrown  with  briars  and  bushes, 
thickly  entangled  amidst  the  tops  and  trunks  of  the  fallen 
trees,  and  is  the  resort  of  ravenous  animals,  to  which  they 
betake  themselves  when  pursued  by  man,  or  after  they  have 


158  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

committed  their  depredations  on  the  farms  of  the  surrounding 
district.  I  have  crossed  the  path  of  the  storm,  at  a  distance 
of  a  hundred  miles  from  the  spot  where  I  witnessed  its  fury, 
and,  a^ain,  four  hundred  miles  farther  off,  in  the  State  of 

7          O  '  ' 

Ohio.  Lastly,  I  observed  traces  of  its  ravages  on  the  sum- 
mits of  the  mountains  connected  with  the  Great  Pine  Forest 
of  Pennsylvania,  three  hundred  miles  beyond  the  place  last 
mentioned.  In  all  these  different  parts,  it  appeared  to  me 
not  to  have  exceeded  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  breadth. 

But  even  this  is  not  enough  for  Nature's  child ;  he  must 
be  accepted  playmate  of  the  earthquake  too,  and  calmly  rock 
upon  its  waves.  He  tells  us : — 

Travelling  through  the  Barrens  of  Kentucky  (of  which  I 
shall  give  you  an  account  elsewhere)  in  the  month  of  Novem- 
ber, I  was  jogging  on  one  afternoon,  when  I  remarked  a 
sudden  and  strange  darkness  rising  from  the  western  horizon. 
Accustomed  to  our  heavy  storms  of  thunder  and  rain,  I  took 
no  more  notice  of  it,  as  I  thought  the  speed  of  my  horse 
might  enable  me  to  get  under  shelter  of  the  roof  of  an  acquaint- 
ance, who  lived  not  far  distant,  before  it  should  come  up. 
I  had  proceeded  about  a  mile,  when  I  heard  what  I  imagined 
to  be  the  distant  rumbling  of  a  violent  tornado,  on  which  I 
spurred  my  steed,  with  a  wish  to  gallop  as  fast  as  possible  to 
the  place  of  shelter ;  but  it  would  not  do,  the  animal  knew 
better  than  I  what  was  forthcoming,  and,  instead  of  going 
faster,  so  nearly  stopped,  that  I  remarked  he  placed  one  foot 
after  another  on  the  ground  with  as  much  precaution  as  if 
walking  on  a  smooth  sheet  of  ice.  I  thought  he  had  suddenly 
foundered,  and,  speaking  to  him,  was  on  the  point  of  dis- 
mounting and  leading  him,  when  he  all  of  a  sudden  fell  a- 
groaning  piteously,  hung  his  head,  spread  out  his  four  legs, 
as  if  to  save  himself  from  falling,  and  stood  stock  still,  con- 
tinuing to  groan.  I  thought  my  horse  was  about  to  die,  and 
would  have  sprung  from  his  back  had  a  minute  more  elapsed, 
but  at  that  instant  all  the  shrubs  and  trees  began  to  move 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  157 

from  their  very  roots,  the  ground  rose  and  fell  in  successive 
furrows,  like  the  ruffled  waters  of  a  lake,  and  I  became  be- 
wildered in  my  ideas,  as  I  too  plainly  discovered  that  all 
this  awful  commotion  in  nature  was  the  result  of  an  earth- 
quake. 

I  had  never  witnessed  anything  of  the  kind  before,  although, 
like  every  other  person,  I  knew  of  earthquakes  by  description. 
But  what  is  description  compared  with  the  reality  ?  "Who 
can  tell  of  the  sensations  which  I  experienced  when  I  found 
myself  rocking  as  it  were  on  my  horse,  and  with  him  moved 
to  and  fro  like  a  child  in  a  cradle,  with  the  most  imminent 
danger  around,  and  expecting  the  ground  every  moment  to 
open,  and  present  to  my  eye  such  an  abyss  as  might  engulf 
myself  and  all  around  me  ?  The  fearful  convulsion,  however, 
lasted  only  a  few  minutes,  and  the  heavens  again  brightened 
as  quickly  as  they  had  become  obscured ;  my  horse  brought 
his  feet  to  their  natural  position,  raised  his  head,  and  gal- 
loped off  as  if  loose  and  frolicking  without  a  rider. 

I  was  not,  however,  without  great  apprehension  respecting 
my  family,  from  which  I  was  yet  many  miles  distant,  fearful 
that  where  they  were  the  shock  might  have  caused  greater 
havoc  than  I  had  witnessed.  I  gave  the  bridle  to  my  steed, 
and  was  glad  to  see  him  appear  as  anxious  to  get  home  as 
myself.  The  pace  at  which  he  galloped  accomplished  this 
sooner  than  I  had  expected,  and  I  found,  with  much  pleasure, 
that  hardly  any  greater  harm  had  taken  place  than  the  appre- 
hension excited  for  my  own  safety. 

Shock  succeeded  shock  almost  every  day  and  night  for 
several  weeks,  diminishing,  however,  so  gradually  as  to  dwindle 
away  into  mere  vibrations  of  the  earth.  Strange  to  say,  I  for 
one  became  so  accustomed  to  the  feeling  as  rather  to  enjoy  the 
fears  manifested  by  others.  I  never  can  forget  the  effects  of 
one  of  the  slighter  shocks  which  took  place  when  I  was  at  a 
friend's  house,  where  I  had  gone  to  enjoy  the  merriment  that, 
in  our  western  country,  attends  a  wedding.  The  ceremony 


158  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

being  performed,  supper  over  and  the  fiddles  tuned,  dancing 
became  the  order  of  the  moment.  This  was  merrily  followed 
up  to  a  late  hour,  when  the  party  retired  to  rest.  We  were 
in  what  is  called,  with  great  propriety,  a  Log-house,  one  of 
large  dimensions,  and  solidly  constructed.  The  owner  was  a 
physician,  and  in  one  corner  were  not  only  his  lancets,  tour- 
niquets, amputating-knives  and  other  sanguinary  apparatus, 
but  all  the  drugs  which  he  employed  for  the  relief  of  his  pa- 
tients, arranged  in  jars  and  phials  of  different  sizes.  These 
had  some  days  before  made  a  nirrow  escape  from  destruction, 
but  had  been  fortunately  preserved  by  closing  the  doors  of  the 
cases  in  which  they  were  contained. 

As  I  have  said,  we  had  all  retired  to  rest,  some  to  dream 
of  sighs  and  smiles,  and  others  to  sink  into  oblivion.  Morn- 
ing was  fast  approaching,  when  the  rumbling  noise  that  pre- 
cedes the  earthquake  began  so  loudly,  as  to  waken  and  alarm 
the  whole  party,  and  drive  them  out  of  bed  in  the  greatest 
consternation.  The  scene  which  ensued  it  is  impossible  for 
me  to  describe,  and  it  would  require  the  humorous  pencil  of 
Cruikshank  to  do  justice  to  it.  Fear  knows  no  restraints. 
Every  person,  old  and  young,  filled  with  alarm  at  the  creak- 
ing of  the  log-house,  and  apprehending  instant  destruction, 
rushed  wildly  out  to  the  grass  enclosure  fronting  the  building. 
The  full  moon  was  slowly  descending  from  her  throne,  covered 
at  times  by  clouds  that  rolled  heavily  along,  as  if  to  conceal 
from  her  view  the  scenes  of  terror  which  prevailed  on  the  earth 
below.  On  the  grass-plat  we  all  met,  in  such  condition  as 
rendered  it  next  to  impossible  to  discriminate  any  of  the 
party,  all  huddled  together  in  a  state  of  almost  perfect  nudity. 
The  earth  waved  like  a  field  of  corn  before  the  breeze :  the 
birds  left  their  perches,  and  flew  about  not  knowing  whither ; 
and  the  doctor,  recollecting  the  danger  of  his  gallipots,  ran 
to  his  shop-room,  to  prevent  their  dancing  off  the  shelves  to 
the  floor.  Never  for  a  moment  did  he  think  of  closing  the 
doors,  but,  spreading  his  arms,  jumped  about  the  front  of  the 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  159 

cases,  pushing  back  here  and  there  the  falling  jars ;  with  so 
little  success,  however,  that  before  the  shock  was  over,  he  had 
lost  nearly  all  he  possessed. 

The  shock  at  length  ceased,  and  the  frightened  females, 
now  sensible  of  their  dishabille,  fled  to  their  several  apart- 
ments. The  earthquakes  produced  more  serious  consequences 
in  other  places.  Near  New  Madrid,  and  for  some  distance 
on  the  Mississippi,  the  earth  was  rent  asunder  in  several 
places,  one  or  two  islands  sunk  forever,  and  the  inhabitants 
fled  in  dismay  towards  the  eastern  shores. 

Nor  was  it  alone  amidst  the  "elemental  rack"  that  he  thus 
seemed  to  bear  a  charmed  life.  He  was  threatened  with 
another,  and  as  stern  danger,  at  the  hand  of  the  red  man 
once  during  his  "Western  wanderings.  This  was,  when  return- 
ing from  the  upper  Mississippi,  he  was  forced  to  cross  one  of 
the  wide  prairies  of  that  region.  We  must  let  him  relate  it 
in  part.  Toward  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  wearied  with  an 
interminable  jaunt  over  the  prairie,  he  approached  a  light 
that  feebly  shone  from  the  window  of  a  log  hut.  He  reached 
the  spot,  and  presenting  himself  at  the  door,  asked  a  tall 
figure  of  a  woman,  whether  he  might  take  shelter  under  her 
roof.  Her  voice  was  gruff,  and  her  dress  carelessly  thrown 
about  her  person.  She  answered  his  question  in  the  affirma- 
tive, when  he  walked  in,  took  a  wooden  stool,  and  quietly 
seated  himself  by  the  fire.  A  finely  formed  young  Indian, 
his  head  resting  between  his  hands,  with  his  elbows  on  his 
knees,  was  seated  in  the  centre  of  the  cabin.  A  long  bow 
stood  against  the  wall,  while  a  quantity  of  arrows  and  two  or 
three  black  raccoon  skins  lay  at  his  feet.  He  moved  not : 
he  apparently  breathed  not.  Being  addressed  in  French,  he 
raised  his  head,  pointed  to  one  of  his  eyes  with  his  finger, 
and  gave  a  significant  glance  with  the  other.  His  face  "was 
covered  with  blood.  It  appeared,  that  an  hour  before,  in  the 
act  of  discharging  an  arrow  at  a  raccoon,  the  arrow  slipt  upon 
the  cord,  and  sprang  back  with  such  violence  into  his  right 


160  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

eye,  as  to  destroy  it  forever.  "  Feeling  hungry,"  Mr.  Audu- 
bon  continues  his  narrative,  "  I  inquired  what  sort  of  fare  I 
might  expect.  Such  a  thing  as  a  bed  was  not  to  be  seen, 
but  many  large  untanned  bear  and  buffalo  hides  lay  piled  up 
in  a  corner.  I  drew  a  fine  time-piece  from  my  vest,  and  told 
the  woman  that  it  was  late,  and  that  I  was  fatigued.  She 
had  espied  my  watch,  the  richness  of  which  seemed  to  operate 
upon  her  feelings  with  electric  quickness.  She  told  me  that 
there  was  plenty  of  venison  and  jerked  buffalo  meat,  and  that 
on  removing  the  ashes  I  should  find  a  cake.  But  my  watch 
had  struck  her  fancy,  and  her  curiosity  had  to  be  gratified 
with  a  sight  of  it.  I  took  off  the  gold  chain  that  secured  it^ 
from  around  my  neck,  and  presented  it  to  her.  She  was  all 
ecstacy,  spoke  of  its  beauty,  asked  me  its  value,  put  the  chain 
around  her  brawny  neck,  saying  how  happy  the  possession  of 
such  a  chain  would  make  her.  Thoughtless,  and,  as  I  fancied 
myself  in  so  retired  a  spot,  secure,  I  paid  little  attention  to 
her  talk  or  her  movements.  I  helped  my  dog  to  a  good 
supper  of  venison,  and  was  not  long  in  satisfying  the  demands 
of  my  own  appetite.  The  Indian  rose  from  his  scat  as  if  in 
extreme  suffering.  He  pinched  me  on  the  side  so  violently, 
that  the  pain  nearly  brought  forth  an  exclamation  of  anger, 
I  looked  at  him.  His  eye  met  mine ;  but  his  look  was  so  for- 
bidding that  it  struck  a  chill  into  the  more  nervous  part  of 
my  system.  lie  again  seated  himself,  drew  a  butcher-knife 
from  its  greasy  scabbard,  examined  its  edge,  as  I  would  do 
that  of  a  razor  I  suspected  to  be  dull,  replaced  it,  and  again 
taking  his  tomahawk  from  his  back,  filled  the  pipe  of  it  with 
tobacco,  and  sent  me  expressive  glances  whenever  our  hostess 
chanced  to  have  her  back  toward  us.  Never  till  that  moment 
had  my  senses  been  awakened  to  the  danger  which  I  now 
suspected  to  be  about  me.  I  returned  glance  for  glance  with 
my  companion,  and  rested  well  assured  that,  whatever  ene- 
mies I  might  have,  he  was  not  of  the  number." 

In  the  meantime,  he  retired  to  rest  upon  the  skins,  when 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  151 

two  athletic  youths,  the  sons  of  the  woman,  made  their  en- 
trance. She  whispered  with  them  a  little  while,  when  they 
fell  to  eating  and  drinking,  to  a  state  bordering  on  intoxica- 
tion. "Judge  of  my  astonishment,"  he  says,  "when  I  saw 
this  incarnate  fiend  take  a  large  carving  knife,  and  go  to  the 
grindstone  to  whet  its  edge !  I  saw  her  pour  the  water  on 
the  turning-machine,  and  watched  her  working  away  with  the 
dangerous  instrument,  until  the  sweat  covered  every  part  of 
my  body,  in  spite  of  my  determination  to  defend  myself  to 
the  last.  Her  task  finished,  she  walked  to  her  reeling  sons, 
and  said :  '  There,  that'll  soon  settle  him !  Boys,  kill  yon 

• — ,  and  then  for  the  watch !'     I  turned,  cocked  my  gun 

locks  silently,  and  lay  ready  to  start  up  and  shoot  the  first 
who  might  attempt  my  life.  Fortunately,  two  strangers  enter- 
ing at  the  moment,  the  purpose  of  the  woman  was  disclosed, 
and  she  and  her  drunken  sons  secured." 

But  before  and  during  this  most  erratic  period  of  Audubon's 
long  life  of  vicissitude  and  exposure,  these  same  solitudes 
amidst  which  he  wandered,  knew  another  shaggy  presence 
even  better  than  his  own.  The  same  earthquakes,  the  same 
hurricanes,  and  the  same  red  foe  had  beset  the  path  of  Daniel 
Boone — and  he,  too,  the  rough,  strong  birth  of  nature,  wan  a 
Hunter-Naturalist !  Though  his  deeds  and  aims  were  not 
after  the  manner  of  those  of  Audubon,  yet  were  they  as 
grand,  and  their  lives,  how  much  alike !  These  remarkable 
men,  one  the  Pioneer  of  Civilization  and  the  other  of  Art  and 
Science,  in  that  great  wilderness,  through  which  the  path  of 
empire  leads,  did  not  meet  until  the  career  of  each  had  been 
finally  shaped,  and  then  what  grandeur  was  there  in  such 
meetings ! 

But  we  will  trace  rapidly  the  career  of  Boone  up  to  these 
periods,  and  see  how  much  resemblance  in  the  outline  of  the 
gigantic  proportions  of  these  two  men  shall  appear. 

The  great  Pioneer  was  born  in  1746,  and,  though  a  nr.tive 

of  Maryland,  had  lived  as  a  hunter  in  two  other  States' — 

11 


162  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

Virginia  and  North  Carolina — before  he  was  twenty-three. 
Having  reached  eighteen,  with  rifle  on  shoulder  and  hunting- 
knife  at  belt,  he  first  set  off  alone  for  the  wilds  of  Western 
Virginia.  He  left  his  parents  behind — since  he  had  found 
that  they  were  not  to  be  reconciled  to  the  wild,  roving,  soli- 
tary life  to  which  he  had  been  so  incurably  addicted  from  tho 
time  he  was  strong  enough  to  handle  his  little  rifle.  Since 
then,  the  woods  had  been  his  home  and  the  father's  house 
his  camp — though  less  and  less  frequently,  as  the  years  ad- 
vanced, had  it  amounted  even  to  so  much  of  a  tie. 

It  was  not  that  the  young  Daniel  was  of  either  an  ungentle 
or  unloving  nature  that  this  apparent  alienation  and  desertion 
occurred — the  reverse  is  true,  and  his  whole  striking  career 
has  demonstrated  him  to  have  been  the  possessor  of  attributes 
as  loyal  and  as  generous  as  ever  marked  the  man  of  great 
achievement.  No,  the  instinct  of  freedom — freedom  with 
God  and  nature — was  as  strong  as  life  in  him,  and  his 
tenacity  of  purpose  as  ungovernable  as  the  law  of  gravitation. 

His  family  was  humble,  and  he  had  no  educated  purpose 
but  what  he  had  learned  from  the  deep  breathings  of  nature. 
What  this  purpose  was,  he  never  stopped  to  think — he  only 
felt  yearnings — ungovernably  strong — the  meaning  of  which 
he  could  not  know — but  which  led  him,  deeper  and  deeper, 
with  yet  more  resistless  strength,  into  the  cool  profounds  of 
the  all-nourishing  bosom  of  his  primeval  mother.  Here  was 
his  learning — here  he  found  a  language  with  meanings  enough 
to  him — for  each  day  had  taught  him  to  read  with  clearer 
and  more  unerring  vision.  lie  could  not  interpret  this  lan- 
guage any  more  than  he  could  the  purpose  with  which  his  life 
was  filled ;  but,  as  with  that  purpose,  he  would  feel  it  in  his 
being.  About  all  that  he  knew  definitely  concerning  him- 
eelf  was,  that  he  always  had  been  a  hunter,  and  always  shoul 1 
be  a  hunter ;  and,  as  for  what  might  happen  farther,  IK  gave 
no  other  thought  than  for  the  day  or  the  hour. 

His  spirit — even  at  lusty  eighteen — with  the  eye  of  a  Imwk 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  163 

and  agility  of  a  j  oung  panther — was  not  a  turbulent  one.  He 
rebelled  against  the  life  of  usages — that  we  call  society — not 
because  he  lacked  the  strength  or  the  firmness  to  battle  with 
it — but  because  he  lacked  the  will  or  desire  to  do  so.  Ho 
was  too  young  and  too  healthy  for  misanthropy ;  and,  if  he 
had  been  older  and  less  healthy,  the  social  conditions  with 
which  he  was  familiar  were  too  simple  for  him  to  have  realized 
that  contamination  of  vice  which  sometimes  goes  far  to  breed 
distrust,  disgust  and  hate  in  even  strong  natures. 

No ! — if  ever  a  wild  creature — gentle,  and  yet  terrible  in 
gentleness — went  on  two  feet  through  the  shadowed  heart  of 
forests,  the  young  Boone  was  one  !  He  knew  nothing  of  any 
world  but  God's  world — of  any  law  but  the  right — of  any 
conscience  but  his  own — of  any  Power  but  that  which  dwelt 
above — in  nature,  and  in  his  own  good  right  arm  and  unerring 
rifle. 

In  a  word,  he  was  the  Patriarch  of  that  "Wild  Turkey 
breed"  of  tameless  wanderers  peculiar  to  this  Continent;  and 
from  the  restless  and  wary  instincts  of  which  our  progress 
towards  almost  boundless  empire  upon  the  hemisphere  takes 
origin. 

"  He  might  have  been  civilized !"  as  a  gentleman,  of 
Chestnut  or  Broadway — inspecting  through  an  eye-glass  his 
powerful  frame  and  ruddy  cheeks — may  be  supposed  to  lisp  ! 
— but  that  would  have  spoiled  a  man  ! — a  man  of  might ! 
the  father  of  a  State. 

You  could  not  have  tamed  such  a  man  as  Daniel  Boone 
into  the  mere  conventional  slave  while  there  was  "  elbow 
room,"  as  he  memorably  termed  it,  in  the  world.  If  he  had 
been  chained,  that  dogged  perseverance — that  invincible  self- 
reliance — that  deathless  love  for  the  natural  and  the  free 
would  have  made  him  a  most  formidable  galley  slave ; — under 
any  institutions  he  would  have  been  a  terrible  agent  of  revo- 
lution and  overthrow. 

Indeed,  one  great  cause  of  the  solidity  of  our  government 


164  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

at  present  is  undoubtedly  to  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  our 
immense  territories  have  as  yet  formed  an  outlet  for  such 
fierce  unbending  spirits,  in  the  better  work  of  pioneering, 
than  the  worse  of  emeutes,  as  in  hampered  France.  Crowd 
such  natures  too  much,  and  the  friction  assuredly  causes  an 
explosion !  They  are  too  combustible  to  be  trusted  near  the 
fires  which  rage  beneath  such  cauldrons  as  Paris  !  Give  them 
air  and  "elbow  room!"  Cool  them  beneath  the  shadows  of 
wide  forests,  and  beside  the  rivulets  that  murmur,  glistening 
here  and  there — or  by  the  deep  beds  where  mighty  torrents 
roll  and  roar — then  you  make  human  beings  of  them — you 
temper  down  that  savage  restlessness  of  restraint  which  makes 
of  them  beasts  and  devils  elsewhere.  However  stern  the  code 
their  passions  and  necessities  may  cause  them  to  adopt,  yet 
it  is  sure  to  be  based  upon  justice,  and  lead  to  wide  utility. 
Society  had  always  better  let  such  men  go — if  they  want  to 
go — if  it  be  even  to  "  the  fartherest  Ind" — for  it  is  as  sure  in 
that  event  to  hear  of  them  again  >for  ultimate  good,  as  it  is 
certain,  if  they  are  restrained,  to  feel  them  for  immediate  evil. 

Young  Boone  passed  through  Virginia  until  he  reached  the 
wooded  slopes,  dark  glens,  and  lofty  cliffs  of  the  Alleghany 
Mountains.  Here  at  last  it  was  lonely  and  wild  enough  for 
him.  Here  he  felt  was  home  and  peace.  Parts  of  this  region 
were  singularly  picturesque  and  lovely,  as  they  indeed  still 
are.  The  fine  open  woods,  heavily  sodded  with  a  rich  and 
nutritious  grass,  afforded  at  that  time  the  most  abundant 
pasturage  for  great  herds  of  deer,  while  now  these  lovely 
elopes  are  covered  with  large  grazing  farms,  sustaining  some 
of  the  finest  cattle  in  the  world. 

The  young  adventurer  soon  built  him  a  little  hut  in  a  ravine 
on  the  side  of  a  mountain,  about  twenty  miles  beyond  what 
he  then  supposed  to  be  the  outermost  boundary  of  settlement. 
lie  then  quietly  proceeded  to  explore  the  region  round  about 
— pursuing  industriously,  in  the  meanwhile,  his  chosen  voca- 
tion of  hunter.  This  was  at  that  time  a  far  more  honorable 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  165 

and  lucrative  employment  than  can  well  be  realized  now,  for 
although  very  many  devoted  themselves  to  it  as  a  means  of 
earning  an  honest  livelihood,  and  the  skins  and  meat  of  the 
animals  slain  hy  them  found  an  important  branch  of  traffic  to 
the  whole  country — yet  everybody  was  in  addition  more  or 
less  a  hunter — so  that,  fortunately,  for  our  struggles  then 
and  since,  this  might  be  called  the  chief  occupation  of  the 
people,  and  we  a  nation  of  hunters. 

He  went  in  to  the  nearest  trading  post  now  and  then,  laden 
with  skins  and  meat,  to  exchange  them  for  powder,  lead  and 
other  necessaries,  returning  as  speedily  as  possible,  for  the 
very  atmosphere  of  even  such  "crowded  haunts,"  was  oppres- 
sive to  him,  and  the  coarse  voices  of  common  traffic  sounded 
harsh  enough  to  ears  accustomed  only  to  those  of  nature. 

His  lonely  explorations  were  first  directed  towards  the  sum 
mits  of  the  great  chain.  He  would  make  excursions  of  weeks 
together  along  the  wildest  and  most  inaccessible  sides  of  the 
mountains — penetrating  their  deepest  fastnesses,  and  camping 
wherever  the  game  or  other  objects  of  interest  attracted  him 
for  a  time — then  he  would  on  again,  to  some  newer  and  yet 
more  difficult  region  within  reasonable  reach  of  his  solitary 
cabin,  and  in  a  different  direction. 

Thus  the  whole  year  was  unconsciously  spent  in  scaling 
the  Eastern  side  of  those  mountains — the  descent  upon  the 
Vfestern  slope  of  which  was  to  open  to  him  a  field  of  re- 
nown. 

We  next  hear  of  him  on  the  Frontier  of  North  Carolina. 
Here  he  lived  for  over  a  year  in  the  most  entire  seclusion — • 
never  being  seen  except  when  he  came  in  to  the  nearest 
settlement  for  powder  and  lead ;  and  here  he  seemed  still  more 
shy  than  before — but  yet  his  unusual  energy  as  a  hunter,  his 
skill  in  wood-craft,  and  his  cool,  reckless  presence  of  mind, 
under  all  circumstances  of  danger,  soon  attracted  the  admira- 
tion of  the  Border  men,  and,  in  spite  of  his  modesty  and 
entire  shrinking  from  all  intercourse  with  his  fellows  that 


166  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

could  be  avoided,  he  found  himself  at  twenty-one  literally 
dragged  forward  into  the  position  of  a  leader. 

The  frontier  of  North  Carolina  was  at  that  time  a  good 
deal  harrassed  by  Indians,  but  principally  by  white  ruffians 
and  marauders  who  assumed  the  guise  of  Indians  to  perpetrate 
their  most  infamous  outrages.  From  his  knowledge  of  wood- 
craft he  was  soon  enabled  to  put  a  stop  to  this  trick,  and 
break  down  this  dangerous  combination.  This  gained  him,  in 
a  still  greater  degree,  the  admiration  of  the  borderers,  and  he 
was  now  regarded  as  a  person  of  importance,  and  great  con- 
fidence reposed  in  him,  though  so  young  a  man. 

Little  was  known,  at  this  time,  of  the  vast  country  beyond 
the  Alleghanies  to  the  West,  but  most  especially  of  the  wild 
and  remote  land  of  Kan-tuck-Kee,  as  it  was  termed  from  its 
principal  river  by  the  Indians. 

It  is  true,  that  so  early  as  1543,  the  Spaniards  who  pene- 
trated the  northern  country  under  the  chivalrous  and  unfor- 
funate  De  Soto,  discovered  Kentucky  while  descending  the 
Mississippi ;  that  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  sides  it  had 
frequently  been  merely  touched  by  the  French  Canadians, 
and  by  Jesuit  missionaries,  but  it  seems  that  a  Colonel  Wood 
in  1654,  was  the  first  American  who  penetrated  it  so  far 
as  the  Mississippi,  through  the  interior. 

In  1670,  Captain  Bolt,  visited  it  from  Virginia,  then  the 
famous  Jesuit,  Father  Hennepin,  visited  it  in  1680.  lie  is 
followed  by  Captain  Tonti,  three  years  afterwards,  who  de- 
scended the  Mississippi  for  the  first  time  to  its  mouth,  along 
with  the  famous  Laselle.  By  the  year  1739,  the  French 
Canadian  traders  had  a  regular  trail  through  Kentucky  by 
the  Big  Bone  Lick.  In  1750,  Dr.  Thomas  Walker  crossed 
the  Alleghanies  and  explored  to  the  Cumberland  and  Kentucky 
rivers  ;  then  James  McBride,  in  1754,  descended  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Kentucky  river  and  left  his  name  there  carved  upon  a 
Leech  tree.  But  it  was  not  until  1767  that  the  country  could 
be  said  to  have  been  really  explored. 


AUDUB02T  AND   BOONE.  167 

111  this  year  a  bold  and  enterprising  man,  who  is  only 
known  as  John  Finley,  with  a  small  party  of  restless  and 
reckless  persons  like  himself,  did  penetrate  the  very  heart  of 
the  land,  and  returning  to  North  Carolina  with  the  story  of 
this  new  Eden,  fired  the  spirit  of  adventure  wherever  he 
went. 

By  this  time,  young  Boone  had  married  the  daughter  of  a 
brave  and  upright  borderer.  In  1769  he  left  his  little  family, 
and  with  this  same  John  Finley  for  a  guide,  and  accompanied 
by  a  small  party  in  addition,  he  set  off  for  the  new  Dorado. 
His  restless  spirit  yearned  for  solitudes  more  vast  and  wild 
than  any  he  had  yet  known.  It  was  only  in  the  excitement 
of  action,  constant  and  unresting,  that  he  could  live. 

From  this  time  the  history  of  the  }Toung  hunter  is  well 
knoAvn.  A  little  over  one  month,  from  the  first  of  May  to  the 
seventh  of  June,  1769,  the  party  of  Boone,  consisting  of  five 
men  beside  himself,  arrived  on  what  was  then  called  Red 
river,  after  having  crossed  the  mountains  and  penetrated,  on 
foot,  full  five  hundred  miles,  the  untracked  wilderness.  Here 
they  formed  a  camp  near  where  the  guide,  John  Finley,  had 
formerly  camped  when  trapping  and  trading  with  the  Indians 
on  his  last  expedition. 

They  remained  here  for  some  time  to  recruit,  and  each  day 
the  young  Boone  wandered  farther  from  the  camp  tOAvards 
the  west.  He  made  an  expedition  of  several  days  at  lost, 
and  having  found  a  much  more  convenient  and  lovely  location, 
returned,  broke  up  his  camp  and  moved  on  to  this  place. 

From  this  camp  he  made  even  wider  excursions  than  before, 
and  it  was  upon  one  of  these  when,  alone,  he  came  out  upon 
a  mountain  steppe,  and  saw  stretched  beneath  him,  as  for  as 
eye  could  reach,  the  wondrous  vision  of  Kentucky.  Miles 
and  miles  away  the  fair  and  glorious  land  extended  in  flowery 
undulating  plains,  along  which,  here  and  there,  stretched 
dark  lines  of  heavy  forest,  above  which,  in  thin  squadrons, 
the  pale  morning  mist  was  lifting  slowly  on  the  rising  breath 


168  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

of  odorous  summer.  It  was  a  vision  more  rare  thaa  day 
dreams  reveal  to  wild  Utopian.  The  young  hunter  waw  over- 
whelmed. Here  the  mother  that  he  worshiped  had  put  on 
her  beautiful  garments  at  last,  and  revealed  herself  to  him  as 
God  had  caused  her  to  be  !  Here  he  could  realize  the  joy 
of  worship,  the  soft  terror  of  an  overcoming  awe,  and  trans- 
ported, cry  aloud  in  wonder  ! 

The  Father  of  Empire  stood  above  his  realm,  and  knew 
not,  as  his  heart  swelled  and  trembled  while  the  majesty  of 
this  new  land  passed  into  and  possessed  his  soul,  what  a  heri- 
tage of  renown  it  was  to  prove  to  him. 

He  lingered  in  rapturous  musings  until  the  night  gathered, 
and  then  returned  with  a  proud  clastic  step  to  the  camp.  He 
felt  now,  for  the  first  time,  a  fullness  of  content.  Here  was 
a  space  before  him  apparently  illimitable,  and  all  nature, 
nothing  but  nature !  For  the  dangers  he  cared  nothing,  he 
was  already  familiar  with,  and  fully  prepared  for  them;  and  in 
the  fullness  of  his  joy,  only  looked  forward  to  that  vast  un- 
broken quiet  of  the  ancient  wilds,  and  that  had  so  absorbed 
his  life  in  its  own  stillness.  He  was  no  longer  a  youth  now, 
but  had  become  suddenly  a  man  in  this  fruition,  his  life  dream ! 

The  camp  was  broken  up  next  morning,  and  young  Boone 
with  his  companions  pushed  on  with  great  alertness  to  pene- 
trate the  new  Eden,  and  explore  its  treasures.  But  poor 
Boonc,  who,  in  the  eagerness  of  his  new  enthusiasm,  urged  on 
ahead  of  the  rest  of  the  party,  in  company  with  his  favorite 
friend  and  companion,  Stewart,  was  suddenly  brought  to  a 
stand  ;  fur,  surrounded  by  a  large  party  of  Indians,  they  were 
made  prisoners  as  they  carelessly  ascended  a  steep  hill.  They 
were  plundered,  stripped  and  bound  of  course,  for  the  Shawa- 
nees  who  held  that  portion  of  Kentucky  then,  were  not  a 
little  remarkable  for  their  want  of  ceremony  in  such  cases. 

The  tact  of  the  consummate  borderers  now  showed  itself, 
and  Boonc  with  his  companion  feigned  content,  with  such 
a  quiet  resignation,  that  the  savages  were  entirely  deceived, 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE. 


and  gave  them  liberties  which  finally  resulted  in  the  desired 
opportunity  of  escape,  and  of  which  they  skillfully  availed 
themselves  in  time  to  get  off.  They  found  their  camp  broken 
and  plundered,  and,  to  their  great  dismay,  that  the  res>t  of  the 
party  paving  become  frightened  by  the  appearance  of  the 
Indians,  had  returned  to  North  Carolina.  This  was  a  great 
shock  to  Boone,  but  his  nature  was  far  too  resolute  to  be 
deterred  at  all  from  the  prosecution  of  his  fixed  purpose  at 
the  out-set,  to  explore  and  possess  this  whole  region. 


170  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

Soon  after  this,  his  brother,  Squire  Boone,  joined  them 
with  a  small  supply  of  necessaries,  of  which  powder  and  shot 
were  the  most  important. 

John  Stewart  seems  to  have  been  a  doomed  man  from  tho 
beginning,  and  his  blood  was  to  be  the  first  offered  up  in  the 
savage  and  unnatural  struggle  which  was  about  to  begin 
between  the  Red  man  and  his  brother,  the  "long  knife  !"  As 
yet  only  incidental  traders,  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  the  Cana- 
dian French,  and  a  few  explorers  whom  we  have  named,  had 
penetrated  here  and  there  on  the  different  sides  of  this  lovely 
land,  and  had  been  met  with  that  sort  of  surly  endurance 
which  characterizes,  always,  the  first  intercourse  of  the  savage 
with  the  civilized  trader  or  explorer.  As  yet  no  blood  of  the 
white  man  had  been  shed  in  Kentucky. 

As  Boone,  his  brother  and  Stewart  were  traversing  the 
forest  this  autumn,  they  were  suddenly  fired  upon  by  a  large 
party  of  Indians  from  a  cane-brake,  and  Stewart  fell,  mor- 
tally wounded !  Resistance  was  useless,  and  the  brothers 
fled  from  the  overwhelming  force,  and  the  scalping-knife 
which  was  drawn  around  poor  Stewart's  skull,  opened,  with 
its  gory  trophy,  one  of  the  most  obstinate  and  bloody  wars 
that  ever  occurred  between  two  races. 

Heretofore  the  most  powerful  aboriginal  tribes  of  the  north 
ani  the  south  had  made  Kentucky  the  common  battle-ground. 
Taking  the  bloody  wars  between  the  Talegans  and  the  Lenaps, 
with  the  branch  of  the  grand  and  famous  tribe  of  Natches  in 
West  Kentucky,  and  with  the  Sciotos  in  East  Kentucky ;  then 
the  litter  Avars  after  the  breaking  up  of  the  great  Lenap  con- 
federacy, between  the  Senekas,  the  Mohawks,  the  powerful 
tribes  of  Menguys,  Wyaridots,  &c.,  down  to  the  time  of  the  great 
Shawanec  confederacy,  and  this  beautiful  land  of  Kentucky 
had  been  the  field  and  scene  of  all  the  darkest  struggles ; 
therefore  it  came  to  be  called  the  "dark  arid  bloody  ground  !" 

Indeed,  considering  the   tremendous  strutr^lc  between  the 

'  O  OO 

Otawas  and  the  Shawanecs  for  supremacy,  in  which  the  former 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  171 

conquered,  and  uniting  that  with  those  which  had  preceded, 
and  with  the  still  more  deadly  and  ferocious  contest  which, — • 
incipient  with  the  appearance  of  De  Soto  on  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi, — was  precipitated  here  by  the  death  of  Stewart ; 
I  think  Kentucky  may  truly  be  said  to  be  entitled  to  the 
name. 

The  Council  ground — the  hunting  ground — the  battle 
ground  of  many  nations — Kentucky  may  well  feel  that  she 
has  been  "  tried  in  the  furnace !" — that  she  has  a  right  to 
send  forth  some  names  of  historic  dignity — to  have  at  least  a 
place  among  her  sisters  !  She  does  not  boast  of  her  heroes — 
she  only  presents  them  ! 

The  two  Boones  were  the  only  white  men  now  left  in  this 
vast  expanse  of  wilderness.  They  were  cool  and  resolute  per- 
sons ;  but  it  seemed  a  tremendous  and  almost  infinite  thing  for 
them  to  be  alone  here,  with  the  momentary  prospect  of  collision 
with  a  foe  who  had  just  pronounced  "war  to  the  knife" — 
in  the  slaughter  of  Stewart ;  and,  to  make  this  more  remark- 
able still,  the  brother  of  Boone  returned  for  supplies — and 
with  the  purpose  of  bringing  out  all  that  was  necessary,  in 
the  way  of  implements,  for  opening  a  settlement. 

In  the  meantime,  Daniel  was  left  sole  tenant  of  the  wilder- 
ness. Think  of  it ! — alone  ! — this  single  young  man,  with 
his  rifle  on  shoulder,  presuming  to  hold,  "  by  right  of  posses- 
sion," this  great  demesne  against  savage  foes  unnumbered. 
This  dark  rich  earth  had  been  colored  by  the  blood  of  many 
nations  poured  upon  it.  Why  should  it  not  continue  the 
scene  of  desperate  and  memorable  struggle  ? 

Alone ! — in  his  own  proper  self  he  stood,  the  sole  repre- 
sentative of  the  great  world  he  had  left.  The  Romulus  of 
Saxon  blood,  he  was  founding  a  new  empire,  and,  greater 
than  he — was  fed,  not  upon  the  "wolf's  milk" — but  upon 
the  abundance  of  mild  and  serene  nature — upon  the  delicious 
esculence  of  her  forest  game,  and  fruits  of  her  wild  luxuriant 
vines. 


172  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

With  all  his  anxieties,  he  found  repose  here.  He  knew 
content  to  be  where  he  was,  at  last,  with  none  to  rebuke  him, 
none  to  say  to  him,  nay. 

His  brother  returned  during  the  year,  and  they  met  at  the 
camp  where  they  had  parted.  The  brave  and  noble  brothers 
now  explored  the  country  more  thoroughly,  and  to  greater 
distances  than  before,  as  the  younger  had  then  brought  in 
what  was  far  more  precious  than  silver  and  gold,  powder  and 
shot !  The  last  of  the  year  1771,  they  returned  for  their 
families,  having  determined  to  remove  to  Kentucky.  The 
renown  of  the  young  hunter  and  his  discovery  had  now 
reached  the  settlements,  and  on  the  way  back  he  was  joined 
by  forty  stout  hunters  in  Powell's  valley. 

They  had  reached  the  interior,  when  the  party  was  attacked 
by  a  large  force  of  Indians,  and  six  of  their  number  killed. 
Their  cattle  were  scattered,  and  indeed  the  whole  party  dis- 
organized by  this  incident,  and  in  spite  of  Boone's  exhorta- 
tions, they  persisted  in  returning  upon  their  trail  and  retreated 
to  a  settlement  on  the  Clinch  river. 

Boone  was  indignant,  and  buried  himself  in  the  depths  of 
the  forest,  leaving  his  family  in  charge  of  the  new  settlement, 
and  there  remained  alone,  a  hunter,  for  four  years,  revisiting 
his  family  occasionally. 

He  had  now  become  generally  known  as  the  man  of  the 
frontiers,  and  his  reputation  had  filled  the  ear  of  authority, 
and,  by  the  energetic  Governor  Spottswood,  of  the  State  of 
Virginia  at  that  time,  he  was  employed  in  some  surveys  of 
importance,  and  from  that  period  was  considered  the  leading 
spirit  of  that  part  of  the  State  territory. 

In  1775,  after  numerous  and  important  services  to  the 
Government  and  the  emigrants,  who  had  begun  to  flock  into 
the  country  from  all  sections,  in  small  parties,  he  arrived  at 
a  salt  spring  or  lick,  with  a  scattered  fragment  of  his  party, 
which  had  been  much  cut  up  by  the  Indians,  and  commenced 
building  a  fort  on  the  site  of  what  is  now  termed  Boons- 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  173 

borough.  They  were  much  annoyed  by  the  Indians  during 
this  time,  and  one  man  was  killed  by  them,  but  they  suffered 
most  from  want  of  provisions.  The  indomitable  courage  of 
Boone  overcame  everything ;  he  finished  his  fort,  and  soon 
after  removed  his  wife  and  daughter  to  the  stronghold — and 
now  these  two  women  stood  alone  by  his  side,  the  first  who 
had  crossed  the  mountains  yet — the  first  white  women  who 
had  yet  stood  upon  the  soil  of  Kentucky !  The  mother  of  a 
state  stood  now  beside  the  daughter  ! 

I  cannot  follow  up  with  minuteness  the  further  details  of 
the  life  of  this  remarkable  man.  His  story  is  the  history  of 
the  birth  of  states  in  our  progress  towards  the  Empire  of  the 
Vvrest.  It  is  well  known  that  so  soon  as  Kentucky  had  grown, 
mainly  under  his  fostering,  to  be  able  to  take  care  of  herself, 
and  the  smoke  of  his  neighbor's  cabin  could  be  seen  on  the 
distant  hills,  the  restless  pioneer  shouldered  his  rifle  and 
pushed  forward  to  find  more  room  in  the  yet  deeper  and  un- 
violated  solitudes  of  Missouri. 

But  let  us  turn  to  Audubon's  first  meeting  with  him,  as 
related  by  himself  in  his  sketch  of  the  progress  of  early  settle- 
ment, and  of  the  wild  sports  of  Kentucky.  He  says  : — 

Kentucky  was  formerly  attached  to  Virginia,  but  in  those 
days  the  Indians  looked  upon  that  portion  of  the  western 
wilds  as  their  own,  and  abandoned  the  district  only  when 
forced  to  do  so,  moving  with  disconsolate  hearts  farther  into 
the  recesses  of  the  unexplored  forests.  Doubtless  the  rich- 
ness of  its  soil,  and  the  beauty  of  its  borders,  situated  as  they 
are  along  one  of  the  most  beautiful  rivers  in  the  world,  con- 
tributed as  much  to  attract  the  old  Virginians,  as  the  desire 
so  generally  experienced  in  America,  of  spreading  over  the 
uncultivated  tracts,  and  bringing  into  cultivation  lands  that 
have  for  unknown  ages  teemed  with  the  wild  luxuriance  of 
untamed  nature.  The  conquest  of  Kentucky  was  not  per- 
formed without  many  difficulties.  The  warfare  that  long  ex 
isted  between  the  intruders  and  the  Redskins  was  sanguinary 


174  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

and  protracted ;  but  the  former  at  length  made  good  their 
footing,  and  the  latter  drew  off  their  shattered  bands,  dis- 
mayed by  the  mental  superiority  and  indomitable  courage  of 
the  white  men. 

This  region  was  probably*  discovered  by  a  daring  hunter, 
the  renowned  Daniel  Boone.  The  richness  of  its  soil,  its 
magnificent  forests,  its  numberless  navigable  streams,  its  salt 
springs  and  licks,  its  saltpetre  caves,  its  coal  strata,  and  the 
vast  herds  of  buffaloes  and  deer  that  browsed  on  its  hills  and 
amidst  its  charming  valleys,  afforded  ample  inducements  to 
the  new  settler,  who  pushed  forward  with  a  spirit  far  above 
that  of  the  most  undaunted  tribes,  which  for  ages  had  been 
the  sole  possessors  of  the  soil. 

The  Virginians  thronged  towards  the  Ohio.  An  axe,  a 
couple  of  horses  and  a  heavy  rifle,  with  store  of  ammunition, 
were  all  that  were  considered  necessary  for  the  equipment 
of  the  man,  who,  with  his  family,  removed  to  the  new  State, 
assured  that,  in  that  land  of  exuberant  fertility,  he  could  not 
fail  to  provide  amply  for  all  his  wants.  To  have  witnessed 
the  industry  and  perseverance  of  these  emigrants,  must  at 
once  have  proved  the  vigor  of  their  minds.  Regardless  of 
the  fatigue  attending  every  movement  which  they  made,  they 
pushed  through  an  unexplored  region  of  dark  and  tangled 
forests,  guiding  themselves  by  the  sun  alone,  and  reposing  at 
night  on  the  bare  ground.  Numberless  streams  they  had  to 
cross  on  rafts,  with  their  wives  and  children,  their  cattle  and 
their  luggage,  often  drifting  to  considerable  distances  before 
they  could  effect  a  landing  on  the  opposite  shores.  Their 
cattle  would  often  stray  amid  the  rich  pasturage  of  these 
shores,  and  occasion  a  delay  of  several  days.  To  these  trou- 
bles add  the  constantly  impending  danger  of  being  murdered, 
while  asleep  in  their  encampments,  by  the  prowling  and 


*  We  have  given  the  true  account  of  the  "Discovery"  in  the  preceding 
sketch  of  Boone. 


ATJDUBON  AND   EOONE.  175 

ruthless  Indians ;  while  they  had  hefore  them  a  distance  of 
hundreds  of  miles  to  be  traversed,  before  they  could  reach 
certain  places  of  rendezvous  called  Stations.  To  encounter 
difficulties  like  these  must  have  required  energies  of  no  ordi- 
nary kind  ;  and  the  reward  which  these  veteran  settlers  enjoy 
was  doubtless  well  merited. 

Some  removed  from  the  Atlantic  shores  to  those  of  the 
Ohio,  in  more  comfort  and  security.  They  had  their  wagons, 
their  negroes  and  their  families.  Their  way  was  cut  through 
the  woods  by  their  own  axemen,  the  day  before  their  advance, 
and  when  night  overtook  them,  the  hunters  attached  to  the 
party  came  to  the  place  pitched  upon  for  encamping,  loaded 
with  the  dainties  of  which  the  forest  yielded  an  abundant 
supply,  the  blazing  light  of  a  huge  fire  guiding  their  steps  as 
they  approached,  and  the  sounds  of  merriment  that  saluted 
their  ears  assuring  them  that  all  was  well.  The  flesh  of  the 
buffalo,  the  bear  and  the  deer,  soon  hung  in  large  and  delicious 
steaks,  in  front  of  the  embers ;  the  cakes  already  prepared 
were  deposited  in  their  proper  places,  and  under  the  rich 
drippings  of  the  juicy  roasts,  were  quickly  baked.  The 
wagons  contained  the  bedding,  and  whilst  the  horses  which 
had  drawn  them  were  turned  loose  to  feed  on  the  luxuriant 
undergrowth  of  the  woods,  some  perhaps  hoppled,  but  the 
greater  number,  merely  with  a  light  bell  hung  to  their  neck, 
to  guide  their  owners  in  the  morning  to  the  spot  where  they 
might  have  rambled,  the  party  were  enjoying  themselves  after 
the  fatigues  of  the  day. 

In  anticipation  all  is  pleasure;  and  these  migrating  bands 
feasted  in  joyous  sociality,  unapprehensive  of  any  greater 
difficulties  than  those  to  be  encountered  in  forcing  their  way 
through  the  pathless  woods  to  the  land  of  abundance ;  and 
although  it  took  months  to  accomplish  the  journey,  and  a, 
skirmish  now  and  then  took  place  between  them  and  the  In- 
dians, who  sometimes  crept  unperceived  into  their  very  camp, 
still  did  the  Virginians  cheerfully  proceed  towards  the  western 


176  WILD   SCENES   AND   "WILD   HUNTERS. 

horizon,  until  the  various  groups  all  reached  the  Ohio,  when, 
struck  with  the  beauty  of  that  magnificent  stream,  they  at 
once  commenced  the  task  of  clearing  land,  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  a  permanent  residence. 

Others,  perhaps  encumbered  with  too  much  luggage,  pre- 
ferred descending  the  stream.  They  prepared  arks  pierced 
with  port-holes,  and  glided  on  the  gentle  current,  more  an- 
noyed, however,  than  those  who  marched  by  land,  by  the 
attacks  of  the  Indians,  who  watched  their  motions.  Many 
travellers  have  described  these  boats,  formerly  called  arks, 
but  now  named  flat-boats.  But  have  they  told  you,  kind 
reader,  that  in  those  times  a  boat  thirty  or  forty  feet  in 
length,  by  ten  or  twelve  in  breadth,  was  considered  a  stupen- 
dous fabric ;  that  this  boat  contained  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, huddled  together,  with  horses,  cattle,  hogs  and  poultry  for 
their  companions,  while  the  remaining  portion  was  crammed 
with  vegetables  and  packages  of  seeds  ?  The  roof  or  deck 
of  the  boat  was  not  unlike  a  farm-yard,  being  covered  with 
hay,  ploughs,  carts,  wagons  and  various  agricultural  imple- 
ments, together  with  numerous  others,  among  which  the 
spinning-wheels  of  the  matrons  were  conspicuous.  Even 
the  sides  of  the  floating  mass  were  loaded  with  the  wheels  of 
the  different  vehicles,  which  themselves  lay  on  the  roof. 
Have  they  told  you  that  these  boats  contained  the  little  all 
of  each  family  of  venturous  emigrants,  who,  fearful  of  being 
discovered  by  the  Indians  under  night  moved  in  darkness, 
groping  their  way  from  one  part  to  another  of  these  floating 
habitations,  denying  themselves  the  comfort  of  fire  or  light, 
lest  the  foe  that  watched  them  from  the  shore  should  rush 
upon  them  and  destroy  them  ?  Have  they  told  you  that  this 
boat  was  used,  after  the  tedious  voyage  was  ended,  as  the 
first  dwelling  of  these  new  settlers  ?  No,  kind  reader,  such 
things  have  not  been  related  to  you  before.  The  travellers 
who  have  visited  our  country,  have  had  other  objects  in  view. 

I  shall  not  describe  the  many  massacres  which  took  place 


ATJDUBON  AND   BOONE.  177 

among  the  different  parties  of  White  and  Red  men,  as  the 
former  moved  down  the  Ohio ;  because  I  have  never  been 
very  fond  of  battles,  and  indeed  have  always  wished  that  the 
world  were  more  peaceably  inclined  than  it  is ;  and  shall 
merely  add,  that,  in  one  way  or  other,  Kentucky  was  wrested 
from  the  original  owners  of  the  soil.  Let  us,  therefore,  turn 
our  attention  to  the  sports  still  enjoyed  in  that  now  happy  por- 
tion of  the  United  States. 

We  have  individuals  in  Kentucky,  kind  reader,  that  even 
there  are  considered  wonderful  adepts  in  the  management  of 
the  rifle.  To  drive  a  nail  is  a  common  feat,  not  more  thought 
of  by  the  Kentuckians  than  to  cut  off  a  wild  turkey's  head, 
at  a  distance  of  a  hundred  yards.  Others  will  bark  off  squir- 
rels one  after  another,  until  satisfied  with  the  number  pro- 
cured. Some,  less  intent  on  destroying  game,  may  be  seen 
under  night  snuffing  a  candle  at  the  distance  of  fifty  yards, 
off-hand,  without  extinguishing  it.  I  have  been  told  that 
some  have  proved  so  expert  and  cool,  as  to  make  choice  of 
the  eye  of  a  foe  at  a  wonderful  distance,  boasting  beforehand 
of  the  sureness  of  their  piece,  which  has  afterwards  been  fully 
proved  when  the  enemy's  head  has  been  examined  ! 

Having  resided  some  years  in  Kentucky,  and  having  more 
than  once  been  witness  of  rifle  sport,  I  shall  present  you  with 
the  results  of  my  observation,  leaving  you  to  judge  how  far 
rifle-shooting  is  understood  in  that  State. 

Several  individuals  who  conceive  themselves  expert  in  the 
management  of  the  gun,  are  often  seen  to  meet  for  the  pur- 
pose of  displaying  their  skill,  and  betting  a  trifling  sum,  put 
up  a  target,  in  the  centre  of  which  a  common-sized  nail  is 
hammered  for  about  two-thirds  of  its  length.  The  marksmen 
make  choice  of  what  they  consider  a  proper  distance,  which 
may  be  forty  paces.  Each  man  cleans  the  interior  of  his 
tube,  which  is  called  wiping  it,  places  a  ball  in  the  palm  of 
his  hand,  pouring  as  much  powder  from  his  horn  upon  it  as 
•will  cover  it.  This  quantity  is  supposed  to  be  sufficient  for 

12 


178  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD  HUNTERS. 

any  distance  within  a  hundred  yards.  A  shot  which  comes 
very  close  to  the  nail  is  considered  as  that  of  an  indifferent 
marksman ;  the  bending  of  the  nail  is,  of  course,  somewhat 
better ;  but  nothing  less  than  hitting  it  right  on  the  head  is 
satisfactory.  Well,  kind  reader,  one  out  of  three  shots  gene- 
rally hits  the  nail,  and  should  the  shooters  amount  to  half  a 
dozen,  two  nails  are  frequently  needed  before  each  can  have 
a  shot.  Those  who  drive  the  nail  have  a  further  trial  amongst 
themselves,  and  the  two  best  shots  out  of  these  generally  settle 
the  affair,  when  all  the  sportsmen  adjourn  to  some  house,  and 
spend  an  hour  or  two  in  friendly  intercourse,  appointing, 
before  they  part,  a  day  for  another  trial.  This  is  techni- 
cally termed  Driving  the  Nail. 

Barking  off  squirrels  is  delightful  sport,  and  in  my  opinion 
requires  a  greater  degree  of  accuracy  than  any  other.  I  first 
witnessed  this  manner  of  procuring  squirrels,  whilst  near  the 
town  of  Frankfort.  The  performer  was  the  celebrated  Daniel 
Boone.  We  walked  out  together,  and  followed  the  rocky 
margins  of  the  Kentucky  River,  until  we  reached  a  piece  of 
flat  land  thickly  covered  with  black  walnuts,  oaks  and  hicko- 
ries. As  the  general  mast  was  a  good  one  that  year,  squirrels 
were  seen  gambolling  on  every  tree  around  us.  My  com- 
panion, a  stout,  hale  and  athletic  man,  dressed  in  a  homespun 
hunting-shirt,  bare-legged  and  moccasined,  carried  a  long  and 
heavy  rifle,  which,  as  he  was  loading  it,  he  said  had  proved 
efficient  in  all  his  former  undertakings,  and  which  he  hoped 
would  not  fail  on  this  occasion,  as  he  felt  proud  to  show  me 
his  skill.  The  gun  was  wiped,  the  powder  measured,  the  ball 
patched  with  six-hundrcd-thread  linen,  and  the  charge  sent 
home  with  a  hickory  rod.  We  moved  not  a  step  from  the 
place,  for  the  squirrels  were  so  numerous  that  it  was  unneces- 
sary to  go  after  them.  Boon  pointed  to  one  of  these  animals 
which  had  observed  us,  and  was  crouched  on  a  branch  about 
fifty  paces  distant,  and  bade  me  mark  well  the  spot  where 
the  ball  should  hit.  lie  raised  his  piece  gradually,  until  the 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONS.  179 

bead  (that  being  the  name  given  by  the  Kentuckians  to  the 
sight)  of  the  barrel  was  brought  to  a  line  with  the  spot  which 
he  intended  to  hit.  The  whip-like  report  resounded  through 
the  woods  and  along  the  hills,  in  repeated  echoes.  Judge  of 
my  surprise,  when  I  perceived  that  the  ball  had  hit  the  piece 
of  the  bark  immediately  beneath  the  squirrel,  and  shivered  it 
into  splinters,  the  concussion  produced  by  which  had  killed 
the  animal,  and*  sent  it  whirling  through  the  air,  as  if  it  had 
been  blown  up  by  the  explosion  of  a  powder  magazine.  Boon 
kept  up  his  firing,  and,  before  many  hours  had  elapsed,  we 
had  procured  as  many  squirrels  as  we  wished ;  for  you  must 
know,  kind  reader,  that  to  load  a  rifle  requires  only  a  mo- 
ment, and  that  if  it  is  wiped  once  after  each  shot,  it  will  do 
duty  for  hours.  Since  that  first  interview  with  our  veteran 
Boone,  I  have  seen  many  other  individuals  perform  the  same 
feat. 

On  another  occasion  he  says — 

Colonel  Boone  happened  to  spend  a  night  with  me  under 
the  same  roof,  more  than  twenty  years  ago.  We  had  returned 
from  a  shooting  excursion,  in  the  course  of  which  his  extra- 
ordinary skill  in  the  management  of  the  rifle  had  been  fully 
displayed.  On  retiring  to  the  room  appropriated  to  that 
remarkable  individual  and  myself  for  the  night,  I  felt  anxious 
to  know  more  of  his  exploits  and  adventures  than  I  did,  and 
accordingly  took  the  liberty  of  proposing  numerous  questions 
to  him.  The  stature  and  general  appearance  of  this  wanderer 
of  the  western  forests  approached  the  gigantic.  His  chest 
was  broad  and  prominent;  his  muscular  powers  displayed 
themselves  in  every  limb ;  his  countenance  gave  indication  of 
his  great  courage,  enterprise,  and  perseverance ;  and  when 
he  spoke,  the  very  motion  of  his  lips  brought  the  impression 
that  whatever  he  uttered  could  not  be  otherwise  than  strictly 
true.  I  undressed,  whilsf  he  merely  took  off  his  hunting 
shirt,  and  arranged  a  few  folds  of  blankets  on  the  floor, 
choosing  rather  to  lie  there,  as  lie  observed,  than  on  the 


180  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

softest  bed.  When  we  had  both  disposed  of  ourselves,  each 
after  his  own  fashion,  he  related  to  me  the  following  account 
of  his  powers  of  memory,  which  I  lay  before  you,  kind  reader, 
in  his  own  words,  hoping  that  the  simplicity  of  his  style  may 
prove  interesting  to  you. 

"  I  was  once,"  said  he,  "  on  a  hunting  expedition  on  the 
banks  of  the  Green  River,  when  the  lower  parts  of  this  State 
(Kentucky)  were  still  in  the  hands  of  nature,  and  none  but 
the  sons  of  the  soil  were  looked  upon  as  its  lawful  proprietors. 
We  Virginians  had  for  some  time  been  waging  a  war  of  intru- 
sion upon  them,  and  I,  amongst  the  rest,  rambled  through 
the  woods  in  pursuit  of  their  race,  as  I  now  would  follow  the 
tracks  of  any  ravenous  animal.  The  Indians  outwitted  me 
one  dark  night,  and  I  was  as  unexpectedly  as  suddenly  made 
a  prisoner  by  them.  The  trick  had  been  managed  with  great 
skill ;  for  no  sooner  had  I  extinguished  the  fire  of  my  camp, 
and  laid  me  down  to  rest,  in  full  security,  as  I  thought,  than 
I  felt  myself  seized  by  an  indistinguishable  number  of  hand?, 
and  was  immediately  pinioned,  as  if  about  to  be  led  to  the 
scaffold  for  execution.  To  have  attempted  to  be  refractory, 
would  have  proved  useless  and  dangerous  to  my  life ;  and  I 
suffered  myself  to  be  removed  from  my  camp  to  theirs,  a  few 
miles  distant,  without  uttering  even  a  word  of  complaint. 
You  are  aware,  I  dare  say,  that  to  act  in  this  manner  was 
the  best  policy,  as  you  understand  that  by  so  doing,  I  proved 
to  the  Indians  at  once,  that  I  was  born  and  bred  as  fearless 
of  death  as  any  of  themselves. 

"  When  we  reached  the  camp,  great  rejoicings  were  ex- 
hibited. Two  squaws  and  a  few  papooses  appeared  particu- 
larly delighted  at  the  sight  of  me,  and  I  was  assured,  by  very 
unequivocal  gestures  and  words,  that,  on  the  morrow,  the 
mortal  enemy  of  the  Red-skins  would  cease  to  live.  I  never 
opened  my  lips,  but  was  busy  contriving  some  scheme  which 
might  enable  me  to  give  the  rascals  the  slip  before  dawn. 
The  women  immediately  fell  a  searching  about  my  hunting- 


AUDUB03ST  AND   BOONE.  181 

Bliirt  for  whatever  they  might  think  valuable,  and,  fortunately 
for  me,  soon  found  my  flask  filled  with  monongahela  (that  is, 
reader,  strong  whisky).  A  terrific  grin  was  exhibited  on 
their  murderous  countenances,  while  my  heart  throbbed  with 
joy  at  the  anticipation  of  their  intoxication.  The  crew  imme- 
diately began  to  beat  their  bellies  and  sing,  as  they  passed 
the  bottle  from  mouth  to  mouth.  How  often  did  I  wish  the 
flask  ten  times  its  size,  and  filled  with  aqua-fortis !  I  ob- 
served that  the  squaws  drank  more  freely  than  the  warriors, 
and  again  my  spirits  were  about  to  be  depressed,  when  the 
report  of  a  gun  was  heard  at  a  distance.  The  Indians  all 
jumped  on  their  feet.  The  singing  and  drinking  were  both 
brought  to  a  stand,  and  I  saw,  with  inexpressible  joy,  the 
men  walk  off  to  some  distance  and  talk  to  the  squaws.  I 
knew  that  they  were  consulting  about  me,  and  I  foresaw  that 
in  a  few  moments  the  warriors  would  go  to  discover  the  cause 
of  the  gun  having  been  fired  so  near  their  camp.  I  expected 
that  the  squaws  would  be  left  to  guard  me.  Well,  sir,  it  was 
just  so.  They  returned;  the  men  took  up  their  guns,  and 
walked  away.  The  squaws  sat  down  again,  and  in  less  than 
five  minutes  had  my  bottle  up  to  their  dirty  mouths,  gurgling 
down  their  throats  the  remains  of  the  whisky. 

"  With  what  pleasure  did  I  see  them  becoming  more  and 
more  drunk,  until  the  liquor  took  such  hold  of  them  that  it 
was  quite  impossible  for  these  women  to  be  of  any  service. 
They  tumbled  down,  rolled  about,  and  began  to  snore :  when 
I,  having  no  other  chance  of  freeing  myself  from  the  cords 
that  fastened  me,  rolled  over  and  over  towards  the  fire,  and, 
after  a  slnrt  time,  burned  them  asunder.  I  rose  on  my  feet, 
stretched  my  stiffened  sinews,  snatched  up  my  rifle,  and,  for 
once  in  my  life,  spared  that  of  Indians.  I  now  recollect  how 
desirous  I  once  or  twice  felt  to  lay  open  the  skulls  of  the 
wretches  with  my  tomahawk ;  but  when  I  again  thought  upon 
killing  beings  unprepared  and  unable  to  defend  themselves,  it 
looked  like  murder  without  need,  and  I  gave  up  the  idea. 


182  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

"  But,  sir,  I  felt  determined  to  mark  the  spot,  and  walking 
to  a  thrifty  ash  sapling,  I  cut  out  of  it  three  large  chips,  and 
ran  off.  I  soon  reached  the  river,  soon  crossed  it,  and  threw 
myself  deep  into  the  cane-brakes,  imitating  the  tracks  of  an 
Indian  with  my  feet,  so  that  no  chance  might  be  left  for  those 
from  whom  I  had  escaped  to  overtake  me. 

"It  is  now  nearly  twenty  years  since  this  happened,  and 
more  than  five  since  I  left  the  whites'  settlements,  which  I 
might  probably  never  have  visited  again,  had  I  not  been 
called  on  as  a  witness  in  a  law  suit  that  was  pending  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  which  I  really  believe  would  never  have  been 
settled,  had  I  not  come  forward,  and  established  the  begin 
ning  of 'a  certain  boundary  line.  This  is  the  story,  sir. 

"Mr. moved  from  Old  Virginia  into  Kentucky, 

and  having  a  large  tract  granted  to  him  in  the  new  State, 
laid  claim  to  a  certain  parcel  of  land  adjoining  Green  River, 
and  as  chance  would  have  it,  took  for  one  of  his  corners  the 
very  ash  tree  on  which  I  had  made  my  mark,  and  finished  his 
survey  of  some  thousands  of  acres,  beginning,  as  it  is  expressed 
in  the  deed,  '  at  an  ash  marked  by  three  distinct  notches  of 
the  tomahawk  of  a  white  man.' 

"  The  tree  had  grown  much,  and  the  bark  had  covered  the 

marks ;  but,  somehow  or  other,  Mr. heard  from  some 

one  all  that  I  have  already  said  to  you,  and  thinking  that  I 
might  remember  the  spot  alluded  to  in  the  deed,  but  which 
was  no  longer  discoverable,  wrote  for  me  to  come  and  try  at 
least  to  find  the  place  or  the  tree.  His  letter  mentioned  that 
all  my  expenses  should  be  paid,  and  not  caving  much  about 
once  more  going  back  to  Kentucky,  I  started  and  met  Mr. 

.     After  some  conversation,  the  affair  with  the  Indians 

came  to  my  recollection.  I  considered  for  awhile,  and  began 
to  think  that  after  all  I  could  find  the  very  spot,  as  well  as 
the  tree,  if  it  was  yet  standing. 

"  Mr. -  and  I  mounted  our  horses,  and  off  we  went 

to  the  Green  River  Bottoms.     After  some  difficulties,  for  you 


AUDUBON  AND   BOOKE.  183 

must  be  aware,  sir,  that  great  changes  have  taken  place  in 
those  woods,  I  found  at  last  the  spot  where  I  had  crossed  the 
river,  and  waiting  for  the  moon  to  rise,  made  for  the  course 
in  which  I  thought  the  ash  tree  grew.  On  approaching  the 
place,  I  felt  as  if  the  Indians  were  there  still,  and  as  if  I 

was  still  a  prisoner  among  them.  Mr. and  I  camped 

near  what  I  conceived  the  spot,  and  waited  until  the  return 
of  day. 

"  At  the  rising  of  the  sun  I  was  on  foot,  and  after  a  good 
deal  of  musing,  thought  that  an  ash  tree  then  in  sight  must 
be  the  very  one  on  which  I  had  made  my  mark.  I  felt  as  if 
there  could  be  no  doubt  of  it,  and  mentioned  my  thought  to 

Mr. .  'Well,  Colonel  Boone,'  said  he,  'if  you  think 

so,  I  hope  it  may  prove  true,  but  we  must  have  some  wit- 
nesses ;  do  you  stay  here  about,  and  I  will  go  and  bring  some 

of  the  settlers  whom  I  know.'  I  agreed.  Mr. trotted 

off,  and  I,  to  pass  the  time,  rambled  about  to  see  if  a  deer 
was  still  living  in  the  land.  But  ah !  sir,  what  a  wonderful 
difference  thirty  years  makes  in  the  country  !  Why,  at  the 
time  when  I  was  caught  by  the  Indians,  you  would  not  have 
walked  out  in  any  direction  for  more  than  a  mile  without 
shooting  a  buck  or  a  bear.  There  were  then  thousands  of 
buffaloes  on  the  hills  in  Kentucky ;  the  land  looked  as  if  it 
never  would  become  poor ;  and  to  hunt  in  those  days  was  a 
pleasure  indeed.  But  when  I  was  left  to  myself  on  the  banks 
of  Green  River,  I  dare  say  for  the  last  time  in  my  life,  a  few 
signs  only  of  deer  were  to  be  seen,  and  as  to  a  deer  itself,  I 
saw  none. 

"  Mr. returned,  accompanied  by  three  gentlemen. 

They  looked  upon  me  as  if  I  had  been  Washington  himself, 
and  walked  to  the  ash  tree,  which  I  now  called  my  own,  as 
if  in  quest  of  a  long  lost  treasure.  I  took  an  axe  from  one 
of  them,  and  cut  a  few  chips  off  the  bark.  Still  no  signs 
were  to  be  seen.  So  I  cut  again  until  I  thought  it  was  time 
to  be  cautious,  and  I  scraped  and  worked  away  with  my 


184  WILD   SCENES  AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

butcher  knife,  until  I  did  come  to  -where  my  tomahawk  had 
left  an  impression  in  the  wood.  We  now  went  regularly  to 
work,  and  scraped  at  the  tree  with  care,  until  three  hacks  as 
plain  as  any  three  notches  ever  were,  could  be  seen.  Mr. 

and  the  other  gentlemen  were  astonished,  and,  I  must 

allow,  I  was  as  much  surprised  as  pleased  myself.  I  made 
affidavit  of  this  remarkable  occurrence  in  presence  of  these 

gentlemen.  Mr.  gained  his  cause.  I  left  Green 

River  forever,  and  came  to  where  we  now  are ;  and,  sir,  I 
wish  you  a  good  night." 

There  are  a  thousand  such  characteristic  anecdotes  of 
Daniel  Boone  that  might  be  given,  but  none  of  them  would 
be  so  interesting  in  themselves  or  possess  such  attraction  as 
this,  coming  from  the  lips  of  such  a  narrator — for  Boone  was 
never  more  remarkable  for  the  development  of  the  curious 
instincts  of  wood-craft,  than  was  Audubon  himself — who  of 
all  men  was  best  qualified  to  appreciate  such  phenomena  in 
another. 

Not  long  after  his  removal  to  Missouri,  Boone  calmly  laid 
down  and  died  in  1818,  and  what  is  not  the  least  extraordi- 
nary fact  connected  with  his  history,  died  poor !  With  all  the 
opportunities  his  life  had  afforded  him  from  the  beginning,  of 
amassing  enormous  wealth,  by  dealing  in  lands,  the  settle- 
ment of  which  he  pioneered,  he  preferred  a  clear  conscience 
and  a  stainless  name,  and  only  retained  to  the  last  what  was 
his  original  inheritance,  his  rifle !  Simple  and  generous  hero 
— the  turf  of  that  wild  distant  grave  must  lie  lightly  on  that 
broad  and  gentle  bosom  ! 

Audubon,  too,  as  we  know,  is  lately  dead.  But  let  us,  be- 
fore we  pass  to  other  themes,  linger  to  look  upon  him  once 
more  at  the  moment,  and  in  the  scene  of  what  he  considered 
the  greatest  triumph  of  his  long  life — his  discovery  of  the  Bird 
of  Washington.  He  says — 

It  was  in  the  month  of  February,  1814,  that  I  obtained 
the  first  sight  of  this  noble  bird,  and  never  shall  I  forget  the 


AUDUBON  AND   BODNE.  185 

delight  which  it  gave  me.  Not  even  Herschel,  when  he  dis- 
covered the  planet  which  bears  his  name,  could  have  expe- 
rienced more  rapturous  feelings.  We  were  on  a  trading 
voyage,  ascending  the  Upper  Mississippi.  The  keen  wintry 
blasts  whistled  around  us,  and  the  cold  from  which  I  suffered 
had,  in  a  great  degree,  extinguished  the  deep  interest  which, 
at  other  seasons,  this  magnificent  river  has  been  wont  to 
awake  in  me.  I  lay  stretched  beside  our  patroon.  The 
safety  of  the  cargo  was  forgotten,  and  the  only  thing  that 
called  my  attention  was  the  multitude  of  ducks,  of  different 
species,  accompanied  by  vast  flocks  of  swans,  which  from  time 
to  time  passed  us.  My  patroon,  a  Canadian,  had  been  en- 
gaged many  years  in  the  fur  trade.  He  was  a  man  of  much 
intelligence,  and,  perceiving  that  these  birds  had  engaged  my 
curiosity,  seemed  anxious  to  find  some  new  object  to  divert 
me.  An  eagle  flew  over  us.  "How  fortunate!"  he  ex- 
claimed ;  "  this  is  what  I  could  have  wished.  Look,  sir  !  the 
Great  Eagle,  and  the  only  one  I  have  seen  since  I  left  the 
lakes."  I  was  instantly  on  my  feet,  and  having  observed  it 
attentively,  concluded,  as  I  lost  it  in  the  distance,  that  it  was 
a  species  quite  new  to  me.  My  patroon  assured  me  that  such 
birds  were  indeed  rare ;  that  they  sometimes  followed  the 
hunters,  to  feed  on  the  entrails  of  animals  which  they  had 
killed,  when  the  lakes  were  frozen  over,  but  that  when  the 
lakes  were  open,  they  would  dive  in  the  daytime  after  fish, 
and  snatch  them  up  in  the  manner  of  the  Fishing  Hawk; 
and  that  they  roosted  generally  on  the  shelves  of  the  rocks, 
where  they  built  their  nests,  of  which  he  had  discovered 
several  by  the  quantity  of  white  dung  scattered  below. 

Convinced  that  the  bird  was  unknown  to  naturalists,  I  felt 
particularly  anxious  to  learn  its  habits,  and  to  discover  in 
what  particulars  it  differed  from  the  rest  of  its  genus.  My 
next  meeting  with  this  bird  was  a  few  years  afterwards,  whilst 
engaged  in  collecting  crayfish  on  one  of  those  flats  which 
border  and  divide  Green  River,  in  Kentucky,  near  its  June- 


186  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

tion  with  the  Ohio.  The  river  is  there  bordered  by  a  range 
of  high  cliffs,  which  for  some  distance  follow  its  windings.  I 
observed  on  the  rocks  which,  at  that  place,  are  nearly  per- 
pendicular, a  quantity  of  white  ordure,  which  I  attributed  to 
owls  that  might  have  resorted  thither.  I  mentioned  the  cir- 
cumstance to  my  companions,  when  one  of  them,  who  lived 
within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  the  place,  told  me  it  was  from  the 
nest  of  the  Brown  Eagle,  meaning  the  White-headed  Eagle 
(Falco  leucocepJialus]  in  its  immature  state.  I  assured  him 
this  could  not  be,  and  remarked  that  neither  the  old  nor  the 
young  birds  of  that  species  ever  build  in  such  places,  but 
always  in  trees.  Although  he  could  not  answer  my  objection, 
he  stoutly  maintained  that  a  brown  eagle  of  some  kind,  above 
the  usual  size,  had  built  there ;  and  added  that  he  had  espied 
the  nest  some  days  before,  and  had  seen  one  of  the  old  birds 
dive  and  catch  a  fish.  This  he  thought  strange,  having,  till 
then,  always  observed  that  both  Brown  Eagles  and  Bald 
Eagles  procured  this  kind  of  food  by  robbing  the  fish-hawks. 
lie  said  that  if  I  felt  particularly  anxious  to  know  what  nest 
it  was,  I  might  soon  satisfy  myself,  as  the  old  birds  would 
come  and  feed  their  young  with  fish,  for  he  had  seen  them  do 
so  before. 

In  high  expectation,  I  seated  myself  about  a  hundred  yards 
from  the  foot  of  the  rock.  Never  did  time  pass  more  slowly. 
I  could  not  help  betraying  tl\e  most  impatient  curiosity,  for 
my  hopes  whispered  it  was  a  Sea  Eagle's  nest.  Two  long 
hours  had  elapsed  before  the  old  bird  made  his  appearance, 
which  was  announced  to  us  by  the  loud  hissings  of  the  two 
young  ones,  which  crawled  to  the  extremity  of  the  hole  to 
receive  a  fine  fish.  I  had  a  perfect  view  of  this  noble  bird  as 
he  held  himself  to  the  edging  rock,  hanging  like  the  Barn, 
Bank,  or  Social  Swallow,  his  tail  spread,  and  his  wings  partly 
so.  I  trembled  lest  a  word  should  escape  from  my  com- 
panions. The  slightest  murmur  had  been  treason  from  them. 
They  entered  into  my  feelings,  and,  although  little  interested, 


AUDUBON  AND   BOONE.  187 

gazed  with  me.  In  a  few  minutes  the  other  parent  joined 
her  mate,  and  from  the  difference  in  size  (the  female  of  rapa- 
cious birds  being  much  larger),  we  knew  this  to  be  the  mother 
bird.  She  also  had  brought  a  fish ;  but,  more  cautious  than 
her  mate,  she  glanced  her  quick  and  piercing  eye  around,  and 
instantly  perceived  that  her  abode  had  been  discovered.  She 
dropped  her  prey,  with  a  loud  shriek  communicated  the  alarm 
to  the  male,  and,  hovering  with  him  over  our  heads,  kept  up 
a  growling  cry,  to  intimidate  us  from  our  suspected  design. 
This  watchful  solicitude  I  have  ever  found  peculiar  to  the 
female  : — must  I  be  understood  to  speak  only  of  birds  ? 

The  young  having  concealed  themselves,  we  went  and 
picked  up  the  fish  which  the  mother  had  let  fall.  It  was  a 
white  perch,  weighing  about  5£  Ibs.  The  upper  part  of  the 
head  was  broken  in,  and  the  back  torn  by  the  talons  of  the 
eagle.  "We  had  plainly  seen  her  bearing  it  in  the  manner  of 
the  Fish  Hawk. 

This  day's  sport  being  at  an  end,  as  we  journeyed  home- 
wards, we  agreed  to  return  the  next  morning,  with  the  view 
of  obtaining  both  the  old  and  young  birds;  but  rainy  and 
tempestuous  weather  setting  in,  it  became  necessary  to  defer 
the  expedition  till  the  third  day  following,  when,  with  guns 
and  men  all  in  readiness,  we  reached  the  rock.  Some  posted 
themselves  at  the  foot,  others  upon  it,  but  in  vain.  We 
passed  the  entire  day,  without  either  seeing  or  hearing  an 
eagle,  the  sagacious  birds,  no  doubt,  having  anticipated  an 
invasion,  and  removed  their  young  to  new  quarters. 

I  come  at  last  to  the  day  which  I  had  so  often  and  so 
ardently  desired.  Two  years  had  gone  by  since  the  discovery 
of  the  nest,  in  fruitless  excursions ;  but  my  wishes  were  no 
longer  to  remain  ungratified.  In  returning  from  the  little 
village  of  Henderson,  to  the  house  of  Doctor  Rankin,  about  a 
mile  distant,  I  saw  an  eagle  rise  from  a  small  enclosure  not  a 
hundred  yards  before  me,  where  the  Doctor  had  a  few  Jays 
before  slaughtered  some  hogs,  and  alight  upon  a  l<pw  treo 


188  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

branching  over  tha  road.  I  prepared  my  double-barrelled 
piece,  which  I  constantly  carry,  and  went  slowly  and  cau- 
tiously towards  him.  Quite  fearlessly  he  awaited  my  ap- 
proach, looking  upon  me  with  undaunted  eye.  I  fired,  and 
he  fell.  Before  I  reached  him  he  was  dead.  With  what 
delight  did  I  survey  the  magnificent  bird !  Had  the  finest 
salmon  ever  pleased  him  as  he  did  me  ? — Never.  I  ran  and 
presented  him  to  my  friend,  with  a  pride  which  they  alone 
can  feel,  who,  like  me,  have  devoted  themselves  from  their 
earliest  childhood  to  such  pursuits,  and  who  have  derived 
from  them  their  first  pleasures.  To  others  I  must  seem  to 
"  prattle  out  of  fashion."  The  Doctor,  who  was  an  expe- 
rienced hunter,  examined  the  bird  with  much  satisfaction, 
and  frankly  acknowledged  he  had  never  before  seen  or  heard 
of  it. 

The  name  which  I  have  chosen  for  this  new  species  of 
Eagle,  "  The  Bird  of  Washington,"  may,  by  some,  be  con- 
sidered as  preposterous  and  unfit;  but  as  it  is  indisputably 
the  noblest  bird  of  its  genus  that  has  yet  been  discovered  in 
the  United  States,  I  trust  I  shall  be  allowed  to  honor  it  with 
the  name  of  one  yet  nobler,  who  was  the  saviour  of  his  coun- 
try, and  whose  name  will  ever  be  dear  to  it.  To  those  who 
may  be  curious  to  know  my  reasons,  I  can  only  say,  that,  as 
the  New  World  gave  me  birth  and  liberty,  the  great  man 
who  insured  its  independence  is  next  to  my  heart.  He  had 
a  nobility  of  mind,  and  a  generosity  of  soul,  such  as  are 
seldom  possessed.  He  was  brave,  so  is  the  eagle ;  like  it, 
too,  he  was  the  terror  of  his  foes ;  and  his  fame,  extending 
from  pole  to  pole,  resembles  the  majestic  soarings  of  the 
mightiest  of  the  feathered  tribe.  If  America  has  reason  to 
be  proud  of  her  Washington,  so  has  she  to  be  proud  of  her 
Great  Eagle. 

In  the  month  of  January  following,  I  saw  a  pair  of  these 
eagles  flying  over  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  one  in  pursuit  of  the 
other.  The  next  day  I  saw  them  again.  The  female  had 


AUDUBON  AND   BOOXE.  189 

relaxed  her  severity,  had  laid  aside  her  coyness,  and  to  a 
favorite  tree  they  continually  resorted.  I  pursued  them  un- 
successfully for  several  days,  when  they  forsook  the  place. 

Stay  yet,  too,  while  we  note  this  fine  expression  of  the 
agonized  travail  of  genius  in  the  production  of  its  mighty 
works.  It  is  from  the  introduction  to  his  fifth  and  concluding 
volume  of  the  "  Ornithological  Biography." 

How  often  have  I  longed  to  see  the  day  on  which  my  labors 
should  be  brought  to  an  end !  Many  times,  when  I  had  laid 
myself  down  in  the  deepest  recesses  of  the  Western  forest, 
have  I  been  suddenly  awakened  by  the  apparition  of  dismal 
prospects  that  have  presented  themselves  to  my  mind.  Now 
sickness  methought  had  seized  me  with  burning  hands,  and 
hurried  me  away,  in  spite  of  all  fond  wishes,  from  those  wild 
woods  in  which  I  had  so  long  lingered  to  increase  my  knowl- 
edge of  the  objects  they  presented  to  my  view. 

Poverty,  too,  at  times,  walked  hand  in  hand  with  me,  and 
on  more  than  one  occasion,  urged  me  to  cast  away  my  pen- 
cils, destroy  my  drawings,  abandon  my  journals,  change  my 
ideas,  and  return  to  the  world.  At  other  times,  the  red 
Indian,  erect  and  bold,  tortured  my  ears  with  horrible  yells, 
and  threatened  to  put  an  end  to  my  existence ;  or  white- 
skinned  murderers  aimed  their  rifles  at  me.  Snakes,  loath- 
some and  venomous,  entwined  my  limbs,  while  vultures,  lean 
and  ravenous,  looked  on  with  impatience.  Once,  too,  I 
dreamed,  when  asleep  on  a  sand  bar  on  one  of  the  Florida 
Keys,  that  a  huge  shark  had  me  in  his  jaws,  and  was  drag- 
ging me  into  the  deep. 

But  my  thoughts  were  not  always  of  this  nature — for.  at 
other  times,  my  dreams  presented  pleasing  images.  The  sky 
was  serene,  the  air  perfumed,  and  thousands  of  melodious 
notes  from  birds,  all  unknown  to  me,  urged  me  to  rise  and  go 
in  pursuit  of  those  beautiful  and  happy  creatures.  Then  1 
would  find  myself  furnished  with  large  and  powerful  wings, 
and  cleaving  the  air  like  an  eagle,  I  would  fly,  and  by  a  few 


190  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

joyous  bounds,  overtake  the  objects  of  my  desire.  At  other 
times  I  was  gladdened  by  the  sight  of  my  beloved  family, 
seated  by  their  cheerful  fire,  and  anticipating  the  delight 
which  they  would  experience  on  my  return.  The  glorious 
Bun  would  rise,  and  as  its  first  rays  illuminated  the  earth,  I 
would  cheer  myself  with  the  pleasing  prospect  of  the  happy 
termination  of  my  labors,  and  hear  in  fancy  the  praises  which 
land  friends  would  freely  accord.  Many  times,  indeed,  have 
such  thoughts  enlivened  my  spirits ;  and  now  the  task  is 
accomplished.  In  health  and  in  sickness,  in  adversity  and 
prosperity,  in  summer  and  winter,  amidst  the  cheers  of  friends 
and  the  scowls  of  foes,  I  have  depicted  the  Birds  of  America, 
and  studied  their  habits  as  they  roamed  at  large  in  their 
peculiar  haunts. 

That  concluding  passage  is  far  nobler  than  "Fern",  vidi, 
vici!"  as  the  simple  expression  of  a  proud  triumphant  con- 
sciousness ;  for,  instead  of  the  intense  egotism  which  renders 
that  repulsive  as  it  is  celebrated,  this  is  modest  and  severely 
classic.  What  a  day  that  was  when  he  could  say,  "  I  find 
my  journeys  all  finished,  my  anxieties  vanished,  my  mission 
accomplished !"  What  a  magnificent  perspective  could  he 
look  back  through,  down  the  past,  more  glorious  than  all 
royalties,  than  any  heritage  of  earthly  princes — and  all  his 
own  !  That  day  has  now  come  in  the  fulness  of  time — and, 
glorious  oil  man,  thy  mission  is  indeed  accomplished ! 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  HUNTERS  OF  KENTUCKY. 
THE   GRAVE   OF   THE   SILENT   HUNTER. 

MY  native  town,  Hopkinsville,  is  in  one  of  the  southern 
counties  of  Kentucky,  called  Christian,  which  was  for  a  long 
time  one  of  the  largest,  if  not  the  largest  county  in  the  State. 
This  was  no  special  matter  of  boast  by  the  way ;  for  although 
the  southern  portion,  comprising  about  half  the  county  which 
bordered  upon  the  Tennessee  line,  was  as  rich,  level  and 
lovely  a  stretch  of  "  barrens"  as  ever  swayed  its  myriad  wild 
flowers  of  countless  hues  beneath  the  labored  beat  of  the 
south  wind's  odor-burdened  wings,  yet,  immediately  to  the 


192  WILD   SCENES   AND   "WILD   HUNTERS. 

north  of  the  county-scat — Hopkinsville — the  whole  character 
of  the  county  changed  at  once.  While  five  miles  to  the  south 
was  a  paradise  of  flowers,  or  when  cultivated,  covered  with 
crops  of  Indian  corn  ten  and  fifteen  feet  in  height ;  tobacco, 
with  leaves  often  three  feet  hy  two ;  and  wheat,  five  to  six 
feet ;  the  same  distance  to  the  north  brought  you  amidst 
rugged  hills  of  sand  or  clay,  that  barely  yielded  the  most 
meagre  subsistence  to  the  poor  and  simple  inhabitants,  who 
necessarily  remained  hunters.  Their  rifles  supplied  them 
with  that  provision  which  the  ungrateful  earth  refused  to 
yield  to  the  plough  and  the  hoe.  As  you  penetrated  further 
in  this  direction,  the  country  became  wilder  and  more  broken 
at  every  turn  of  the  narrow  trail,  until,  even  so  late  as  twelve 
years  ago,  you  came  upon  a  country  quite  as  wild  and  sav- 
agely unaltered  as  when  the  Indian  war-whoop  alone  dis- 
turbed its  echoes.  Here  your  trails  cease,  and  as  you  push 
into  this  formidable  looking  wilderness,  which  reaches  to 
Green  river — over  forty  miles — you  shudder  at  the  tremendous 
solitudes  of  its  abrupt  cliffs,  that  take  away  your  breath  when 
you  come  suddenly  upon  the  verge  of  their  deep  gorges,  wind- 
ing far  away,  black  with  the  "  Bottom  Forests,"  except  where 
some  stream  that  has  leaped  with  a  sullen  roar  from  beneath 
you  down  the  cliff,  gleams  sharply  out  from  the  shadow  here 
and  there  ;  or  when,  in  the  distance,  some  huge  "Pilot  Knob" 
lifts  its  bare,  conical  crown  so  high  into  the  hazy  heavens, 
that  it  seems  like  one  of  old  Nilus'  Pyramids,  set  above  the 
hills  !  The  scene  here,  is  indeed  inexpressibly  shaggy,  wild 
and  stern.  These  Pilot  Knobs,  of  which  there  are  two,  arc 
very  famous  in  the  early  annals  of  Kentucky ;  and  we  may 
have  more  to  say  of  them.  They  constitute  the  most  peculiar 
features  of  this  singular  scenery,  and  there  are  many  legends 
connected  with  them.  Here  the  Indians  lingered  longest 
after  being  driven  from  their  northern  possessions,  or  hunting 
grounds  rather ;  and  here  the  raging  hate  of  the  two  races 
spent  itself  in  the  last  desperate  collisions,  before  sullen  con- 


THE   GKAVB   OF  THE   SILENT  HUNTER.  198 

quered  or  conqueror  could  agree  to  part.  Here  the  game 
lingered  too,  and  still  lingers,  and  must  continue  to  linger  for 
many  a  year  to  come ;  though  what  was  once  sole  possession 
of  the  fierce,  swarthy  Shawanee,  is  now  periodically  intruded 
upon  by  the  pale  sons  of  the  lordly  planters  of  the  tobacco 
lands  to  the  south,  who  are  accustomed  to  make  up,  yearly, 
"  camping  parties"  to  hunt  in  this  region  for  a  few  weeks 
during  the  fall  of  the  year. 

Along  the  southern  border  of  the  rougher  part  of  this 
wilderness,  there  are  a  few  cabins  of  the  old  race  of  hunters, 
who  belong  to  the  times  of  Boone,  and  still  boast  that  they  con- 
tinue to  "  hold  their  own,"  which  means,  being  still  "  out  of 
sight  of  the  smoke  of  a  neighbor's  chimney !"  It  would 
indeed  be  rather  a  difficult  feat  to  see  this  same  smoke,  it 
must  be  confessed,  since  the  nearest  neighbor  is  probably 
twelve  miles  off,  and  both  their  huts  embosomed  in  steep 
crags ! 

I  have  never  been  a  lover  of,  what  tliey  term  so  expres- 
cively  in  the  West,  "  a  crowd,"  particularly  on  hunting  excur- 
sions ;  the  chief  charm  of  which  has  consisted  in  the  entire 
separation  from  my  race,  permitted  for  the  time,  and  the 
solitude  that  invites  a  refreshing  communion  with  the  primi- 
tive forms  of  the  natural  world.  Many's  the  time  have  I 
forgotten  to  shoot,  and  let  the  stately  deer  go  by  unscathed, 
while  I  stood  breathless  to  admire  its  graceful  action,  and 
the  charming  unity  of  its  antlered  presence  here,  with  the 
swaying  of  old  boughs  and  lapsing  leap  of  streams.  With 
such  moods  upon  me,  I  could  not  bear  to  hurt  the  lovely 
creatures ;  it  seemed  as  though  a  voice  of  our  mother  nature 
chid  me  :  "  Shame  !  shame  !  to  slay  the  beautiful !" 

But  I  was  usually  as  keen  a  hunter  as  ever  startled  the 
ancient  echoes  with  the  rifle's  shrilly  ring.  My  boon  com- 
panion at  this  time,  some  twelve  years  ago,  was  like  myself, 
named  Charles,  or  Charlie  M.,  as  he  was  everywhere  called, 
from  his  merry,  reckless,  jovial  character.  Now  Charlie  w as  a 

13 


194  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

character,  sure  enough,  and  just  such  an  one  you  •will  meet 
•with  nowhere  else  in  the  world  hut  in  Kentucky ;  and  even 
there  it  is  nearly  grown  out  hy  this  time.  A  more  loyal, 
gentle  and  generous  spirit  never  lived,  nor  did  a  truer  heart 
beat  ever  in  the  broad,  roomy  chest  of  a  lion-man.  He  was 
as  merrily  reckless  as  a  prodigious  flow  of  physical  energies, 
mirthful  instincts,  and  indomitable  courage  could  make  him. 
He  always  took  sides  with  the  weak,  it  mattered  not  to  him 
what  the  odds  of  the  oppressor,  or  how  strange  both  parties 
might  be  to  him.  He  carried  this  feeling  to  amusing  ex- 
tremes in  the  defence  of  domestic  animals ;  and  many  the 
scrape  he  has  got  into  by  taking  the  part  of  a  poor  horse  or 
dog  that  was  being  cruelly  beaten  by  a  drunken  beast  of  a 
master.  He  would  never  pass  such  a  scene  without  stopping 
it,  at  all  hazards  to  himself;  he  would  never  see  a  negro  beaten, 
and  never  struck  his  own,  but  resented  it  as  a  personal  injury 
to  himself  if  another  did.  This  man  was  the  most  passion- 
ately devoted  to  the  chase  of  any  one  I  had  ever  yet  met  with. 
His  father  had  been  very  wealthy,  and  at  the  time  he  grew 
up,  at  Frankfort,  the  capital  of  Kentucky,  the  chase  was  the 
one  fashionable  and  absorbing  pursuit  of  the  young  men  of 
his  social  rank.  The  greater  part  of  his  life  was  thus  spent 
in  the  saddle ;  and  a  passion  cultivated  from  boyhood  is  not 
easily  shaken  off  in  early  manhood,  particularly  one  so  fasci- 
nating. Suffice  it,  he  kept  a  splendid  pack  of  hounds,  the 
genealogy  of  every  one  of  which  he  had  at  his  tongue's  end ; 
and  some  fine  hunters  in  his  stable ;  and  for  years  after  I  knew 
him — when  he  moved  to  the  south — near  my  native  town — • 
he  spent  fully  one-third  of  his  time,  night  and  day,  in  the 
woods  on  horseback  following  his  hounds.  Ho,  too,  was  a 
genuine  lover  of  Nature,  and  preferred  to  hunt  alone.  Charlie 
was  indeed  the  very  impersonation  of  a  class  of  gay,  dashing, 
reckless  and  accomplished  sportsmen  of  the  north  of  Kentucky, 
which  is  now  nearly  extinct.  Whether,  mounted  on  his  tall 
and  pc  werful  hunter,  that  seemed  almost  a  miracle  of  indomi- 


THE   GRAVE   OF  THE   SILENT   HUNTER.  195 

table  game  and  speed,  he  went  sweeping  through  the  thick, 
primitive  woods  at  a  pace  that  would  have  terrified  any  other 
sportsman  on  the  open  ground,  clearing  at  flying  leaps  the 
most  extravagant  perils,  without  notice,  and  always  close  with 
the  chase,  cheering  in  ringing  halloes  his  noble  hounds ;  or,  on 
our  long  rides  to  the  distant  hunting  grounds  by  night,  car- 
rying chorus  to  some  wild  hunting  song  in  the  shrill  blasts  of 
his  curled  bugle,  cr  to  some  touching  balled  of  the  ancient 
chivalry,  poured  from  his  manly  lips,  rolling  its  soft  accom- 
paniment in  mellowed  clamors  through  the  echoing  hills,  he 
was  still  the  splendid  and  consistent  ideal  of  the  north-Ken- 
tucky fox-hunter  of  the  generation  following  Clay  and  Crit- 
tenden ! 

We  soon  knew  each  other ;  and,  as  there  were  many  points 
of  earnest  congeniality  between  myself  and  the  wild  hunter, 
we  soon  became  frequent  and  inseparable  companions,  par- 
ticularly on  the  long  hunts  to  this  rude  region  I  have  de- 
scribed. 

It  was  now  the  last  of  -November  that  we  started  with 
hound  and  horn  for  the  hills,  on  the  grand  hunt  of  the  year. 
A  snow  storm  had  commenced  the  over  night,  and  none  but 
a  true  hunter  can  realize  the  bounding  delight  with  which 
the  first  snow  storm  is  welcomed.  Then  only  comes  his  en- 
joyments in  highest  perfection !  Now  the  game  of  every 
kind  is  not  only  within  his  reach,  but  is  in  its  highest 
condition.  He  can  himself  trace  it  for  miles  and  miles  away 
through  the  deep  snow,  until  brought  to  bay  at  last,  it  falls 
before  his  unerring  aim.  He  has  an  exulting  consciousness 
of  his  independence,  even  of  his  dogs,  for  nothing  can  escape 
his-  practiced  eye  and  tireless  patience.  The  most  exciting 
of  all  hunts  are  proverbially  those  in  the  snow ;  but  in  the 
northern  States  they  become  disgusting  very  soon,  as  they 
quickly  degenerate  into  the  merest  butcheries,  where  the 
snow,  from  three  to  four  feet,  remains  upon  the  ground  for 
three  or  four  months,  with  a  crust  over  it  just  strong  enough 


196  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

to  bear  a  man  on  snow  shoes,  or  his  dog,  and  yet  will  let  in 
the  poor  animal  at  every  jump  as  deep  as  it  can  sink.  Here 
it  is  like  slaughtering  sheep  in  a  pen  when  hunters  attack  a 
"yard"  of  deer  or  moose,  but  in  Kentucky  the  case  is  very 
different.  The  snow  seldom  or  never  falls  deeper  than  two 
feet,  and  most  frequently  does  not  last  a  week.  It  never 
crusts  sufficiently  to  impede,  materially,  the  progress  of  large 
game,  and  all  the  sport  is  therefore  confined  to  within  the 
first  few  days ;  and  the  principal,  if  not  only  advantage 
the  hunter  gains,  consisting  in  the  increased  facility  with 
which  the  game  is  traced,  either  by  himself  or  by  the  noses 
of  his  hounds.  This  makes  the  sport  intensely  exciting,  for 
you  sometimes  pursue  a  single  herd  or  sole  animal  for  twenty 
miles  before  you  get  a  shot ;  but  as  you  are  sure  to  get  a 
glimpse  of  them,  and  hear  their  whistling  snort  of  defiance 
as  they  bound  on  again  every  half  hour  or  so,  you  are  kept 
in  a  constant  state  of  excitement,  and  beguiled,  without  heed- 
ing, over  miles  and  miles  that  would  otherwise  have  been 
weary  enough  to  you.  It  is  only  when  the  coveted  achievement 
has  been  really  accomplished,  and  you  have  proudly  thrown 
your  noble  quarry  across  the  saddle,  that  you  begin  to  realize 
fatigue  in  satiety,  and  self-reproach  in  the  fatigue,  as  with 
aching  limbs  you  turn  your  wearied  horse  through  the  strange, 
darkening  woods  towards  the  distant  camp.  Now  the  chill 
night  wind  whistles  through  the  gnarled  boughs,  dashes  the 
frozen  snow  in  fine,  sifted,  searching  particles  into  your  face 
and  bosom ;  now  your  hot  blood  chills  and  your  fiery  pulse 
sinks ;  the  cutting  nor'-wester  searches  the  very  "  marrow  of 
annoy;"  and  with  sinking  heart  and  shivering  limbs,  its  very 
shadow  as  the  owl  sails  by,  causes  your  teeth  to  chatter,  and 
its  sudden  hoot  makes  you  almost  leap  from  the  saddle  in 
nervous  affright.  Now,  as  the  dreary  way  lengthens  before 
you,  the  cheerful  light  of  the  solitary  camp-fire  seems  far,  far 
away,  and  an  almost  infinite  distance  of  bog  and  bluff,  of 
crag,  ravine  and  tangled  wood,  seems  stretched  between  you 


THE   GRAVE   OF   THE   SILENT   HUNTER.  197 

and  that  warm  haven ;  then  it  is  that  conscience  speaks 
through  the  downcast  life,  and  we  are  forced  to  realize  the 
Drtual  savagery  of  this  miscalled  "  sport ;"  we  have  a  fore- 
taste of  the  aches  and  pains  of  the  poor  animals  we  have  heen 
chasing  through  the  deep  snow  all  day,  already  in  our  own 
chafed  and  suffering  limbs,  with  the  sure  knowledge  that  the 
fruition  is  not  yet,  but  must  come  when  we  rise  sore,  stiff  and 
shivering,  from,  perhaps,  a  frozen  couch  in  the  morning.  Ah, 
how  the  weary  miles  do  stretch !  It  is  in  vain  that  a  few 
spasmodic  notes  are  sounded  upon  the  curled  bugle  at  our 
side ;  the  echoes  take  on  such  stunning  reverberations  amongst 
the  bare  cliffs,  that  we  are  awed  into  silence !  How  many 
vows  against  cruelty  to  animals,  against  the  indulgence  of 
such  tiger-passions,  are  muttered  as  our  despair  gathers  with 
exhaustion.  The  moon  wheels  up  her  glittering  disk,  and 
at  another  time  we  should  have  been  wild  with  delight  to 
watch  the  glory  of  the  shine  her  coming  lays  along  the  spark- 
ling earth,  and  through  the  dark  armed  trees ;  but  now,  alas ! 
it  only  taunts  with  its  splendor ;  it  cannot  make  the  way 
more  short !  On,  on  we  plunge  ;  the  miles  grow  longer,  and 
the  noble  horse  begins  to  stagger  beneath  his  double  load, 
and  then  the  shuddering  apprehension  comes  that  he  may 
give  out,  and  leave  us  to  trudge  the  live-long  night  through 
the  snow  to  keep  from  freezing.  If  the  fatal  sleep  overtake 
us,  we  must  lie  down  and  die,  with  our  poor  horse  for  a  pillow, 
and  the  filmed  eyes  of  the  noble  buck  we  slew  fixed  in  a  stonied 
gaze  upon  our  own  as  they  are  glazed  by  the  cold  wind.  Mad- 
dened by  such  horrid  images,  and  nerved  by  despair,  we  raise 
the  bugle  to  our  stiffened  lips  once  more  ;  loud,  long  and  high 
the -peal  rings  out,  shrill  as  a  death-cry.  My  sagacious  horse 
has  stopped  of  his  own  accord,  holding  his  breath,  while  with 
pricked  ears  he  listens.  Hark  !  that  faint  distant  sound  !  Is 
it  echo  !  He  stamps  his  foot  with  an  impatient  neigh,  and 
with  blazing  eyes  and  erect  crest  springs  forward.  No  mc-re 
staggering  now, — fatigue  is  gone  ;  it  requires  all  my  exhausted 


198  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

strength  to  hold  him  within  anything  like  a  moderate  gait. 
A  half  an  hour,  and  with  an  eager  neigh  he  breaks  into  a 
run,  under  my  not  unwilling  rein,  for  I,  too,  have  caught  a 
glimpse  of  a  fire  through  the  wood,  and  recognize  the  white 
face  of  yonder  cliff,  with  the  moon  full  upon  it ;  and  in  another 
minute,  with  the  warm  blood  rushing  to  my  heart  and  brain, 
and  a  mad  whoop  of  delight,  I  burst  into  the  light  of 
the  camp-fire  to  be  welcomed  by  the  yells  and  combined 
Jiowls  of  a  dozen  hounds,  and  a  hearty  cheer  from  the  gallant 
Charlie ! 

Now  the  scene  has  changed,  and  by  the  warm  fire  and 
over  the  smoking  roast  of  tenderest  venison,  the  feats  of 
the  day  are  recounted  with  as  much  eager  zest  as  if  there  had 
been  no  such  thing  as  cold,  fatigue,  and  nervous  apprehen- 
sions. The  terrors  have  all  vanished  within  the  charmed  circle 
of  that  fire-light,  and  we  threw  ourselves  upon  our  blankets 
to  sleep,  dreaming  lustily  of  just  such  scenes  to  be  gone 
through  to-morrow ;  only  the  dreams  some  how  gave  only  the 
bright  side  of  the  picture,  and  managed  to  leave  out  all  about 
freezing  to  death,  starvation,  &c.  So  sunrise  would  find  us 
with  appetites  only  sharpened  by  the  sufferings  of  the  day 
before,  and  yet  more  ready  to  do  full  justice  to  the  roast  or 
living  venison.  Such  are  the  strange  inconsistencies  of  the 
hunter's  moods,  and  such  the  charms  of  the  vivid  shiftino; 

'  O 

excitements  of  his  restless  and  tumultuous  life !  He  is  one 
moment  worse  than  the  most  ferocious  wild  beast,  and  the 
next  his  head  is  turned  aside  to  weep  that  he  has  slain  "a 
thing  of  beauty,"  fresh  from  God's  own  hands.  It  was  thus 
our  lives  had  fared,  in  camp  and  out,  for  four  or  five  days, 
when  the  weather  changing  suddenly,  the  snow  commenced 
to  disappear  rapidly. 

Our  sport  in  the  snow  was  now  over ;  but  we  were  not  by 
any  means  satisfied,  and  Charlie  proposed  that  we  should 
strike  our  camp  and  make  our  way  across  the  ridges  to  the 
hut  of  a  famous  hunter  known  along  this  border  as  Old  Jake, 


THE   GRAVE   OF  THE   SILENT   HUXTEK.  199 

— what  his  other  name  was  he  had  never  heard,  though  he 
had  been  at  his  hut  several  times.  He  said  the  old  fellow 
would  be  very  glad  to  see  us,  and  would  furnish  us  with  a 
"hill-boy,"  whom  he  kept  in  his  employ,  to  act  as  a  guide 
and  driver  for  us.  We  intended  now  to  change  our  mode 
of  hunting.  We  were  to  be  placed  by  the  driver  at  different 
"stands,"  as  they  are  called,  meaning  places  at  which,  from 
his  knowledge  of  the  country,  he  knew  the  deer  always 
passed  out  when  roused  by  the  dogs  from  their  feeding- 
grounds.  After  placing  us,  he  was  to  return  along  the  ridge 
for  a  mile  or  so  with  the  dogs,  and  then  descending  into 
the  bottom,  with  sound  of  horns,  yells  of  dogs  and  other 
noises,  drive  the  frightened  creatures  before  him  to  our 
stands.  "We  found  everything  at  Old  Jake's  as  Charlie  ex- 
pected. We  were  received  with  true  hunter  hospitality  by 
the  family ;  consisting  of  the  old  man,  his  tanned  and  wrinkled 
dame,  with  two  stout  and  comely  daughters,  who  were  the 
very  impersonations  of  buxom  good  humor. 

We  had  a  merry  time  of  it  the  first  evening,  and  the  next 
morning,  early,  were  joined  by  our  guide  that  was  to  be.  He 
was  a  droll-looking  specimen,  surely !  Lank,  long,  and  lantern- 
jawed,  he  looked  as  if  the  fever  and  ague  of  the  country  bot- 
toms had,  in  shaking  him  into  a  bag  of  bones,  forgotten  to  joint 
him  again  when  he  was  set  up ;  yet,  withal,  it  was  marvellous  to 
see  the  cadaverous-looking  creature  making  his  way  over  these 
rugged  hills,  far  in  advance  of  our  active  horses,  while  with 
every  long  stride  his  loose  limbs  actually  seemed  to  be  wrapping 
round  each  other.  He  was  called  Jabe,  as  I  supposed  short  for 
Jabez,  and  carried  a  very  long  specimen  of  the  old-fashioned 
rifle  of  our  fathers.  It  was  easy  enough  to  see  that  he  was 
a  fine  marksman,  from  the  sharp,  steady  shine  of  his  black 
eyes  beneath  the  long,  coarse,  Indian-like  hair  that  hung 
over  them ;  indeed,  I  half  suspected  that  the  fellow  was  a 
half-breed,  but  had  no  opportunity  of  ascertaining !  We  had 
evidence  enough  of  this  afterwards.  Placing  ourselves  with 


200  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

implicit  faith  under  the  patronage  and  guidance  of  this 
remarkable  personage,  we  met  with  "  sport"  to  satiety  at 
last,  within  two  days. 

We  had  gone  out  as  usual  on  the  third,  and  in  a  different 
direction  from  any  we  had  yet  tried.  The  spot  assigned  me 
for  a  stand  by  Jabe  was  by  far  the  most  remarkable  I  had 
yet  seen.  Five  miles  back,  we  had,  with  considerable  diffi- 
culty, climbed  up  the  steep  side  of  a  lofty  and  wooded  ridge, 
that  seemed  much  higher  than  any  one  we  had  yet  seen. 
We  had  found  the  top,  or  comb,  apparently  level ;  though  as 
we  rode  on,  I  observed  the  surrounding  country  to  be  either 
sinking  beneath  the  feet  of  the  ridge,  or  else  the  ridge  wrs 
rising  rapidly  above  the  country.  Suddenly  we  came  to  what, 
I  remember  instantly  reminded  me  of  my  boyish  idea  of  the 
"  jumping-off  place !"  The  thing  was  so  sudden  that  our 
horses  reared  backwards  and  snorted  with  affright.  We  were 
on  the  sheer  verge  of  a  precipice  three  hundred  feet  in  depth, 
and  the  heavy  forest  below  us  looked  almost  like  lichens 
clinging  to  stones,  which  Avere  in  reality  considerable  bluffs. 
It  seemed  as  if  the  ancient  basin  of  some  ocean  lay  at  our 
feet,  stretching  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach  on  either  hand 
and  in  front ;  while  far  away  to  the  right,  just  under  the 
rim  of  the  horizon,  we  could  distinguish  the  dark,  heavy  line 
of  the  wood  bordering  Green  river ;  while  to  the  left  it  shut 
down  upon  a  blue  serrated  line  of  lofty  Knobs.  We  were 
lost  in  wonderment,  gazing  over  this  extraordinary  scene, 
when  Charlie  suddenly  shouted,  as  he  turned  his  head  quickly : 

"  Hilloa,  there  ! — you  Jabe — where  are  you  making  off  to, 
you  tallow-skinned  knave  ? — you  havn't  shown  me  my  stand 
yet!" 

But  Jabe  either  did,  or  pretended  not  to  hear,  and  only 
increased  the  celerity  of  his  gait,  as  he  went  crashing  through 
the  brush  down  the  steep  ridge-side  without  turning  his  head, 
even.  Charlie  was  highly  enraged,  and  bestowed  upon  him 
eundry  expletives  not  of  the  choicest  selection,  but  which  it  is 


THE   GRAVE   OF   THE   SILENT  HUNTER.  201 

hardly  necessary  to  repeat.  I  laughed  heartily  at  the  incident, 
and  Charlie  at  once  forget  his  wrath  in  a  loud  burst  of  merri- 
ment, when  I  recalled  to  his  recollection  the  droll  way  in 
which  our  guide  had  acted  for  the  last  mile.  He  had  been 
up  to  that  time  striding  just  ahead  of  our  horses,  gossiping 
in  the  gayest  possible  of  saturnine  humors,  asking  us  all  sorts 
of  unsophisticated  questions  about  the  ways  of  the  "  settle- 
ments," and  telling  us  quaint  anecdotes  about  Old  Jake,  who 
was  the  greatest  man  in  the  world,  according  to  his  estima- 
tion. Indeed,  he  had  been  keeping  us  in  one  continued  roar 
of  laughter  at  his  simplicity,  and  a  certain  shrewdness 
combined,  when  suddenly  a  new  thought  seemed  to  have 
struck  him.  He  had  paused  for  an  instant, — looked  around 
him  furtively,  and  then  drawing  over  towards  the  left  hand 
side  of  the  ridge,  had,  from  that  time,  commenced  bearing 
down  that  side  further  and  further,  until  when  we  had  nearly 
reached  this  spot,  he  pointed  here,  without  a  word,  and  the 
next  we  saw  of  him  he  was  "splitting  it"  down  the  ridge. 

"You  remember,  Charlie,  we  could  get  nothing,  not  one 
word  out  of  him,  with  all  your  merciless  rallying,  after  he 
made  that  sudden  stop  !  Depend  upon  it,  there  is  some  fun 
in  this,  and  that  fellow  has  got  this  bluff-point  somehow 
mixed  up  in  the  ridiculous  superstitions  common  to  his  class!" 

After  many  merry  comments  upon  this  text,  in  the  course 
of  which,  with  our  loud  talking  and  laughter,  we  violated  all 
the  accepted  rules  of  "driving,"  which  require,  peremptorily, 
the  most  profound  silence  on  the  part  of  the  "stander"  as  he 
approaches  his  "stand,"  we  came  to  the  conclusion  that  as 
the  mischief  had  no  doubt  already  been  done,  and  the  deer 
turned  back  by  the  sound  of  our  voices,  we  had  just  as  well 
take  it  easy  until  the  driver  came  in.  So,  seating,  or  rather 
stretching  ourselves  upon  some  mossy  boulders,  scattered 
around,  we  chatted  away  the  next  half  hour  very  cozily, 
although  an  occasional  eddy  of  the  wind  would  bring  up  to  our 
ears  the  distant  babble  of  the  hounds  in  the  vallev,  and  the 


202  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTEKS. 

long,  mellow  wail  of  the  driver's  horn,  both  showing  the  game 
was  on  foot ;  yet  neither  of  us  rose,  even,  so  entirely  had  we 
become  cloyed  of  this  sport !  Soon  the  full  chorus  of  hounds 
burst  upon  us,  seemingly  close  at  hand,  still  neither  of  uj 
rose.  Suddenly  we  heard  a  heavy  crashing  through  the  under- 
brush, and  before  we  had  time  to  think,  an  enormous  black 
bear  rushed  past  us. 

"Hah!  new  game!"  I  exclaimed,  as  we  both  sprang  to 
our  feet  and  fired  our  rifles  after  the  unwieldy  brute.  It 
was  evidently  hit,  but  kept  on  with  undiminished  speed  across 
the  ridge.  The  dogs,  with  bristles  erect,  and  savage  yells, 
came  pouring  after,  while  we,  thus  unexpectedly  aroused  to 
the  wildest  excitement,  shouted  like  madmen  as  we  followed 
after  on  foot,  loading  our  guns  while  we  ran.  We  knew  the 
bear  was  wounded,  and  would  take  to  the  first  large  tree  it 
came  to.  The  comb  of  the  ridge  was  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  wide  here,  and  the  ground  a  general  level.  We  heard 
the  dogs  baying  furiously  now. 

"  He's  tree'd  already  !"  chuckled  Charlie.  "  Let's  approach 
cautiously." 

We  feared  it  might  resort  to  its  common  trick  when 
tree'd  by  the  dogs  ; — seeing  the  hunters  approach, — it  rolls 
itself  up  into  a  ball,  and  dropping  to  the  ground,  makes  off 
again.  We,  however,  managed  to  get  fair  shots,  and  brought 
it  down.  It  was  a  very  large  animal  of  the  species,  and  we 
wound  a  merry  blast,  both  loud  and  long,  in  honor  of  our 
unexpected  triumph.  We  supposed  that  the  sound  of  the 
guns  and  the  recall  of  the  horns  would,  of  course,  bring  our 
faithful  esquire,  Jabe,  to  us.  After  listening  for  some  time, 
and  no  answer,  Charlie  gave  another  louder  and  longer  blast, 
with  all  the  power  of  his  lungs,  and  receiving  no  answer  still, 
Bent  out  his  prodigious  voice  over  the  valley,  with  a  force 
that  filled  it  with  reverberations.  After  listening  a  moment 
we  could  barely  distinguish  a  feeble  "  too-oot !  toot !"  that 
seemed  to  come  from  no  great  distance,  but  what  the  direction 


THE   GRAVE   OF  THE   SILENT   HUNTER.  203 

might  be,  neither  of  us  could  tell ;  for  Jabe,  as  it  undoubtedly 
was,  must  surely  have  been  stretched  upon  the  ground  in 
some  hiding-place.  I  laughed  heartily. 

"  Why  Charlie,  that  fellow  is  frightened  out  of  his  wits  by 
some  ghost  story, — we  must  get  along  without  him !" 

"  More  like  the  bear  has  scared  him  into  a  fit — the  spindle- 
shanked  hill-tyke !"  growled  Charlie,  who  was  excessively 
wroth  for  a  few  minutes,  but  whose  risibles  could  not  with- 
stand the  slightest  allusion  on  my  part  to  that  dolorously  timid 
"too-oot!  toot!"  We  accordingly  went  to  work,  in  despair 
of  any  assistance  from  the  redoubtable  Jabe,  and  prepared 
our  meat  for  transportation  homeward.  We  had  reached  our 
horses,  and  while  engaged  in  dividing  the  burden  between 
them,  who  should  come  crawling  cautiously  towards  us,  out 
of  the  wood,  but  our  gentleman  of  the  asthmatic  horn.  As 
soon  as  Charlie  saw  him,  he  staggered  in  convulsions  of 
laughter,  and  letting  his  burden  fall,  rolled  over  and  over 
upon  the  leaves,  scarcely  able  to  articulate  more  than  a  word 
or  two  at  a  time. 

"  0  Jabe  !  0  Jabe  ! — the  bear  !  the  bear  ! — run  Jabe — 
the  bear  ! — what'll  uncle  Jake  say ! — Jabe  ! — run  Jabe  ! — 
the  bear !" 

Jabe,  in  the  meantime,  was  very  cooly  examining  the  bear, 
while  his  eyes  fairly  glistened  at  the  sight  of  the  fat,  heavy 
hams. 

"  Gosh!  he's  a  whopper!  Killed  jest  sich  a  old  'un  down 
in  the  truck-patch  back  er  uncle  Jake's,  'bout  this  time  last 
winter.  I  was  out  choppin',  and  he  com'd  snuffin'  at  a  hog- 
bone  I'd  brung  out  for  a  bite,  and  didn't  seem  to  mind  me, — 
so  I  stood  still,  and  he  kinder  come  too  close  at  last,  and  I  let 
him  hev  it  across  the  nose !  one  lick  turned  him  up,  sir, — 
sure  as  a  gun !" 

I  now  remembered  having  heard  uncle  Jake  refer  to  this  feat 
of  Jabe' — but  it  had  been  done  incidentally,  and  in  such  a  mat- 
ter-of-course sort  of  a  way,  that  I  had  not  noticed  it  specially 


204  WILD    SCENES   AND    WILD    HUNTERS. 

at  the  time.  The  simple  way  in  which  the  young  hunter  now 
recalled  it,  and  the  enthusiasm  which  lit  his  eye  the  moment 
he  saw  our  unwonted  quarry,  convinced  me  that  Charlie  had 
been  entirely  mistaken,  and  that  there  must  be  some  other 
cause  than  the  one  he  assigned  for  the  evident  alarm  of  a 
man  who  had  already,  and  with  such  coolness,  killed  a  full- 
grown  bear  with  an  axe  only.  I  accordingly  let  Charlie  have 
his  laugh  out ;  for  he  had  no  notion  of  listening  to  any  but 
his  own  version  of  the  affair,  while  I  determined  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  garrulous  excitement,  caused  in  the  mind  of 
Jabe  by  the  sight  of  this  the  most  valued  of  all  the  game  of 
the  country,  to  draw  out  from  him  the  real  cause  of  his 
alarm.  So  we  sat  down  on  the  ground  to  examine  the  bear 
more  at  our  leisure,  and  winking  at  Charlie,  I  at  last  got  him 
to  comprehend  something  of  my  purpose.  We  drew  him  out 
as  to  his  hunting  feats  in  general, — but  most  especially  with 
regard  to  those  in  this  particular  neighborhood.  Gradually 
he  seemed  to  forget  himself,  and  watching  the  moment,  I 
asked  him,  suddenly,  if  he  had  ever  taken  a  "  stand"  here, 
where  he  had  placed  us,  himself! 

"I!"  he  exclaimed,  with  a  look  of  amazement, — "I! — 
great  jingo — no  ! — I  wouldn't  er  tuck  a  '  stand'  on  this  here 
Pint,  fer  all  the  bar  on  the  Tennessee  and  Cumberland  put 
together !" 

"But,  why  not,  Jabe? — we've  seen  nothing  very  wrong 
here !" 

"  0,  you're  strangers !  but  didn't  lie  swar  before  he  died 
that  the  fust  hunter,  as  ought'er  know,  that  com'd  near 
enough  that  big  black  oak  to  see  the  little  head-stone  to  his 
grave — that  he  meant  to  haunt  him  to  death  ?  Didn't  he  ? — 
I  tell  you  this  aint  the  boy  that  would  go  in  a  hundred  yards 
of  that  big  oak  on  no  consideration  in  natur?" 

"But," — said  I,  impatiently, — "Jabe,  who  was  this  per- 
son?" 

"  Why,  Old  Bill  Smith — to  be  sure  ! — you  never  hearn  of 


THE   GRAVE   OF   THE   SILENT   HUNTER.  205 

Old  Bill  Smith  ?  Why  uncle  Jake  know'd  him  well — he's  fit 
Injuns  with  him  many  a  time ;  everybody  down  in  these  parts 
know'd  him !" 

"  No  doubt,  Jabe — but  you  say  he's  buried  under  the  big 
black  oak; — was  he  buried  there  of  his  own  wish?" 

"  In  course  ! — they  say  he  chose  the  place  years  before  he 
died,  and  fixed  the  grave  himself.  Them  as  buried  him  say 
it's  a  mighty  curius  sort  o'  grave.  He  was  one  of  Boone's 
men,  and  so  was  uncle  Jake, — and  uncle  Jake  helped  three 
more  on  'em  to  bury  him.  There  'aint  bin  a  livin'  soul  be- 
longin'  round  here  since.  He  lived  by  himself  more  'n  two 
years,  down  by  the  big  spring.  That's  since  I  ken  recollect. 
He  never  spoke  to  nobody  but  our  uncle  Jake,  and  we  never 
seed  him  more  'n  three  times  a  year,  when  he  com'd  in  to  git 
the  powder  an'  lead  uncle  Jake  had  got  for  him." 

"  Now,  Jabe,"  said  I,  in  my  most  wheedling  tone,  "  Jabe, 
my  good  fellow,  won't  you  show  us  the  grave  ?" 

"  I ! — good ! — why  man,  no  ! — not  for  all  the  money  in 
your  town !" 

"  But,  Jabe,  you  need  only  go  near  enough  to  show  us  the 
tree, — you  will  not  be  violating  the  command  in  doing  that, 
merely !" 

He  still  continued  to  shake  his  head,  dubiously,  in  spite  of 
our  united  entreaties,  and  mutter : — 

"  Golly  ! — don't  like  this  here  ridge,  anyhow, — don't  think 
it's  safe, — wish  hadn't  bin  sich  a  dratted  fool  as  to  come  this 
way ; — forgot  till  I  was  most  there  !" 

But  Charlie  and  I,  in  whom  the  spirit  of  mischief  on  his 
part,  and  earnest  curiosity  on  mine,  had  now  been  thoroughly 
roused, — determined  to  give  poor  Jabe  no  time  for  considera- 
tion, and  plied  him  on  both  sides  with  such  eagerness,  that 
after  a  considerable  degree  of  wavering  and  hesitation,  we  at 
last  brought  him  up  to  the  sticking  point  by  the  application 
of  a  few  shiners  to  his  palm.  He  started,  though  still  with 
visible  trepidation,  to  lead  us  to  the  grave.  I  could  scarcely 


206  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

keep  from  giving  way  to  my  inclination  to  laugh  again,  as  I 
watched  the  various  expressions  of  dread,  mingled  with  the 
most  spasmodic  efforts  to  express  a  courageous  and  devil-may- 
care  sort  of  air,  which  were  becoming  more  and  more  forlorn 
as  we  approached  the  scene  of  his  apprehensions. 

We  had  not  walked  more  than  a  few  hundred  yards,  almost 
immediately  along  the  edge  of  the  cliff,  when  he  stopped,  and 
pointing  ahead  to  a  very  large  black  oak  tree  that  stood  some- 
what apart  from  the  more  stunted  growth  of  the  ridge,  and 
within  a  few  feet  of  the  precipitous  verge  we  had  been  treading, 
he  said  in  a  tremulous  tone, — 

"  Thar ! — that's  the  tree  ! — wouldn't  go  any  closer  for  a 
kingdom !" 

"Well,  Jabe,  you'll  wait  here,  won't  you!"  said  I,  as  we 
walked  on. 

"  'Spose  I  will, — don't  like  it,  though  !" 

We  laughed  slightly  as  we  looked  back. 

The  moment  the  tree  had  been  pointed  out  to  us,  I  had 
remarked  to  Charlie,  that  I  thought  I  recognized  that  tree ; 
and  when  we  reached  it,  judge  our  astonishment,  to  find  it 
was  the  very  one  from  which  we  had  shot  the  bear  a  few 
hours  before :  and,  on  looking  round,  we  perceived  what  had, 
during  the  excitement  of  the  chase  and  conquest,  entirely 
escaped  our  attention  before,  namely,  that  this  was  really  the 
largest  tree  in  sight,  and  that  it  stood  exactly  on  the  highest 
point  of  the  ridge,  and  commanded  a  wider  prospect  than 
•was  possible  from  any  other  spot.  These  observations  inte- 
rested us  not  a  little,  and  I  looked  around  curiously  for  traces 
of  the  grave.  Directly,  Charlie  uttered  an  exclamation. 

"  Here  it  is  !  I  suppose  this  must  be  it — though  it's  a  droll 
looking  affair  for  a  grave  !" 

I  stepped  towards  him  and  found  him  kneeling  on  the  bluff- 
side  of  the  tree  close  to  its  roots,  and  peering  between  some 
flat  rocks  which  he  had  partly  uncovered  of  the  mould  and 
leaves. 


THE   GRAVE   OF   THE   SILENT   HUNTER.  207 

"  These  flat  rocks  seem  to  be  regular — this  must  be  the 
sepulchre,  coffin,  or  whatever  you  choose  to  call  it !" — he  con- 
tinued, as  he  scratched  away.  "  By  Jove  !  look  through  that 
crack — I  can  see  the  skull !" 

I  knelt  beside  him,  and  sure  enough  a  human  skull  was 
visible  in  the  shallow  sarcophagus.  I  immediately  proposed 
to  remove  the  stone,  and  take  the  skull  out.  I  was  at  the 
time  a  vehemently  ardent  student  of  the  new  science  of  Gall 
and  Spurzehim,  and  would  cheerfully  have  risked  my  life  for 
any  such  opportunity  as  this  for  examining  the  skull  of  a  man 
whose  character  must  evidently  have  been  so  very  marked  and 
extraordinary.  It  was  no  vulgar  curiosity  that  caused  me  to 
disregard  the  slight  remonstrance  of  Charlie,  who  muttered 
something  about  the  pity  to  disturb  the  old  fellow's  rest.  I 
reverently  lifted  the  thin  flat  stone,  about  eighteen  inches  in 
length  by  six  in  breadth,  which  lay  across  the  grave  over  the 
head,  and  could  then  see  the  structure  of  the  whole  as  well  as 
the  great  portion  of  the  skeleton. 

The  grave  was  only  about  eighteen  inches  deep  by  about  the 
same  width,  and  was  lined  bottom  and  sides  with  flat  unhewn 
stones  of  the  same  size  of  that  I  had  taken  from  over  the  head, 
and  the  rest  of  the  cover  was  the  same,  as  well  as  what  we 
call  the  head-stone,  which  stood  an  inch  and  a  half  above  the 
surface.  I  immediately  recognized  the  sort  of  stone  sarco- 
phagus or  grave,  which  is  to  be  found  in  thousands,  covering 
sometimes  miles  of  ground  in  the  southern  part  of  Kentucky 
and  portions  of  Tennessee.  The  people  adopting  this  curious 
mode  of  sepulture  were  extinct  at  a  period  earlier  than  the 
remotest  reach  of  the  tradition  of  the  present  aboriginal  races, 
as  we  vainly  enough  call  them !  I  have  often  examined  these 
graves  where  you  could  not  make  a  step  for  miles  but  upon 
one.  It  was  evidently  a  pigmy  race,  for  these  graves  ave- 
rage not  more  than  three  feet  in  length.  It  was  from  these 
ancient  burial  grounds  that  the  old  hunter  had  obtained  his 
idea  of  sepulture.  Who  this  singular  people  were,  will  pro 


208  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

bably  never  be  satisfactorily  discovered.  In  the  meantime, 
men  of  sense  will  continue  to  laugh  at  the  absurd  theory,  that 
they  are  the  burying  grounds  of  the  Aztecs  for  their  children. 
They  must  have  been  accommodating  children  to  die  by  the 
thousand  just  about  three  feet  high ! 

After  examining  the  interior,  without  disturbing  the  limbs 
and  body,  I  proceeded  to  lift  the  skull  tenderly  in  my  hand. 
I  now  stood  erect,  holding  it  off  from  me  to  study  its  propor- 
tions— when  a  sudden  yell  so  startled  me  that  I  came  near 
dropping  it  in  the  shock.  I  looked  around  quickly,  Jabe 
uttering  a  second  yell  of  horror,  was  in  the  act  of  throwing 
his  long  rifle  from  him — then  bending  his  head  forward  and 
fighting  desperately  about  his  ears,  as  if  attacked  by  a  whole 
nest  of  hornets,  he  bounded  with  another  wild  screech  into 
the  thicket,  and,  as  far  as  I  could  hear  him,  he  seemed  to 
give  a  screech  for  each  bound.  I  turned  an  inquiring  look 
upon  Charlie,  who  was  rolling  upon  the  leaves  half  dead  with 
smothered  laughter. 

"Has  he  got  into  a  yellow  jacket's  nest,  Charlie!"  I  in- 
quired, very  soberly,  of  the  ridiculous  fellow,  for  I  did  not  feel 
much  like  laughing. 

"No,"  he  gasped  at  last — "but  if  you  don't  look  out  you 
will  have  got  into  one,  by  that  phrenological  whim  of  yours. 
Jabe  saw  you  with  the  skull  in  your  hand,  and  it  frightened 
him  to  death  almost.  You  may  rest  assured  that  he  will  not 
stop  now  until  every  man  in  the  circumference  of  twenty  milea 
knows  of  this.  There  are  not  many  of  them  to  be  sure,  but 
they  will  be  troublesome  fellows  to  deal  with." 

"  Well,  what  would  you  advise,  Charlie  ?" 

"  Why,  that  we  both  make  a  bee-line  for  home,  right  off? 
I  think  I  can  find  the  way  out,  and  its  no  use  meeting  these 
fellows  while  they  are  exasperated.  We'll  return  in  a  few 
weeks,  when  the  thing  has  passed  over ;  and  as  I  have  no  hand 
in  it,  I'll  make  your  peace  with  the  superstitious  fools,  and 


THE   GRAVE   OF   THE   SILENT   HUNTER.  209 

toe  can  have  our  hunt  out,  and  hear  Uncle  Jake's  story  of  this 
Bill  Smith !" 

"  Well,  I'm  agreed — but  stop  a  few  moments,  Charlie.  As 
I  have  risked  a  lynching  to  get  a  sight  of  the  old  hunter's 
skull — I  am  going  to  have  a  good  look  at  it  now  before  we 
go!" 

He  uttered  some  exclamation  of  impatience,  and  sunk  down 
upon  the  leaves  again,  when  I  was  soon  deep  in  the  mystery 
of  bumps. 

I  marvelled  at  that  head !  The  skull  was  of  rather  small 
size,  and  ran  up  at  firmness  almost  to  a  cone — secreetiveness 
was  enormous,  too,  and  destructiveness  quite  as  excessive — 
but  cornbativeness  was  not  large — adhesiveness,  benevolence 
and  conscienciousness  remarkably  large.  Of  acquisitiveness 
he  seemed  to  have  nothing  scarcely,  and  of  what  is  called 
human  nature,  a  great  deal.  He  had  prominent  language,  yet 
one  of  his  sobriquets  was,  the  "Silent  Indian  killer!"  Of 
casuality  there  was  little — but  comparison  was  large — the 
organs  between  the  eyes  were  large — form,  locality,  &c.  Phi- 
loprogenitiveness  was  the  largest  organ,  except  firmness  ! 

These  were  the  hasty  observations  I  had  time  to  make 
before  the  impulsive  hurry  of  my  comrade  compelled  me  to 
replace  the  skull.  This  was  done  with  the  most  scrupulous 
care,  in  as  exactly  the  position  from  which  I  had  taken  it  as 
possible.  The  grave  was  also  re-covered  with  the  same  care, 
and  restored  as  nearly  as  I  could  get  it  to  the  condition  in 
which  I  found  it.  We  soon  after  mounted  our  horses,  with 
the  bear  meat  tied  behind  us,  and  set  off  rapidly  on  our  return 
to  town.  During  the  whole  ride  I  was  thinking  of  this  extra- 
ordinary head,  and  what  had  been  no  doubt  its  equally  remark-- 
able owner.  What  a  man  this  must  have  been,  and  what  a 
career ! — for,  obscure  as  it  appeared  to  have  been,  it  was 
evident  from  the  awe  and  dread  his  very  bones  inspired  in 
the  mind  of  the  simple  hunter,  that  he  must  have  possessed 


210  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

traits  while  living,  quite  as  peculiar,  as  his  taste  in  burial,  or 
the  shape  of  his  head.  What  circumstances  could  have  com- 
bined to  drive  one  of  his  naturally  strong  and  active  social 
feelings  into  the  terrible  isolation  of  life  and  of  death,  in 
which  I  had  thus  far  traced  him. 

Come  what  might,  I  vowed  that  at  some  future  time  I  would 
make  another  effort  to  clear  up  this  mystery  of  the  "  Hunter's 
Grave,"  and  trace  the  story  of  this  saturnine  old  w&rrior  of 
the  dark  and  bloody  ground. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

OLD    BILL    SMITH,    THE    SILENT    HUNTER. 

I  CARRIED  out  my  resolution,  to  get  at  all  that  could  be 
reached  concerning  the  history  of  Bill  Smith.  On  a  new  ex- 
cursion, I  saw  and  made  my  peace  with  Uncle  Jake — the  one 
of  his  old  comrades  who  had  most  of  his  confidence,  and  whe 
lived  nearest  to  the  concluding  scenes  of  his  life.  My  friend 
Charlie  and  myself  spent  a  week  with  him  this  time,  and  we 
were  even  successful,  after  the  first  day,  in  reconciling  to  us 
our  old  acquaintance  and  guide,  Jabe,  in  spite  of  the  terrible 
fright  we  had  given  him  through  my  phrenological  enthusiasm. 
Jabe  seemed  to  have  come,  finally,  to  the  logical  conclusion, 
that,  as  the  ghost  had  not  yet  ridden  us  into  our  graves,  that 

211 


212  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

it  meant  to  let  us  off,  on  the  score  of  our  being  green-horns, 
"who  didn't  know  no  better!" 

''But  fur  a  hunter,  who  ought'er  know'd  sumthin,  to  do 
sich  a  thing — it  would'er  been  more  'an  his  life  or  his  sleep 
o'nights  war  worth !" 

Without  pretending  to  dispute  the  metaphysical  views  of 
Jabe,  we  proceeded  as  usual  to  avail  ourselves  of  his  really 
uncommon  skill  as  a  guide  and  driver,  while  I  made  it  a  point 
when  Ave  returned  from  the  day's  hunt,  and  when  the  evening 
meal  had  given  way  to  pipes  and  segars,  to  bring  old  Uncle 
Jake  round,  by  indirections,  to  the  topic  of  which  he  was 
most  shy,  while  I  was  most  eager,  namely,  the  story  of  this 
Bill  Smith — for  the  more  I  heard  of  him  the  more  curious 
the  contradictions  of  his  character  appeared. 

In  furnishing  this  relation  in  my  own  language,  I  wish  it 
expressly  understood,  that  the  whole  is  necessarily  a  sort  of 
scraps  and  patch  narrative,  the  general  tone  of  which  I  take 
from  Uncle  Jake,  but  many  of  the  important  facts  beside  have 
been  obtained  in  conversation  with  some  others  of  the  elderly 
Burvivors  of  that  period,  and  who,  too,  had  been  associates 
of  Smith.  Other  circumstances  of  interest  I  picked  up  in 
Washington  City,  and  others  more  private,  I  gleaned  in 
North  Carolina.  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  throw  all  these 
tilings  together,  as  to  me  "  seemeth  best,"  and  as  I  have  to 
trust  entirely  to  my  memory,  am  liable  to  some  inaccuracies ; 
but  such  as  it  is,  I  oiler  you  this  account  of  Old  Bill  Smith. 

So  far  as  I  can  make  out  the  story,  he  seems  to  have  been 
an  orphan  buy,  thrown  upon  the  charities  of  the  kind  world 
when  quite  young,  by  the  sudden  death  of  parents,  whose  only 
child  he  was,  and  who  had  lately  come  over  with  a  ship  load 
of  other  emigrants  from  Old  England. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  a  child  with  such  an  unfortu- 
nate patronymic  as  Smith,  was  ever  to  be  inquired  after. 
He  was  lo.st  in  the  undistinguishable  and  innumerable  multi- 
tude of  that  great_family.  Of  course  the  fate  of  the  poor 


OLD    BILL   SMITH,    THE    SILENT    HUNTER.  213 

nameless  child — for  Smith  can  hardly  be  called  a  name ! — 
vras  apprenticeship  under  the  system  of  indenture  which  pre- 
vailed quite  generally  among  the  colonies.  We  hear  of  him 
as  indentured  to  an  old  farmer  in  the  northern  part  of  North 
Carolina.  He  must  have  been  eight  years  old  or  thereabouts 
at  this  time. 

This  old  farmer,  I  suspect,  was  a  veritable  brute ;  for 
although  the  terms  of  indenture,  besides  a  sufficiency  of  food 
and  clothing,  together  with  comfortable  lodgings,  expressly 
stipulated  that  the  apprentice,  thus  bound  for  a  term  of  years, 
for  and  in  consideration  of  his  services,  was  to  be  afforded 
the  opportunity  and  allowed  the  necessary  time  for  the  acqui- 
sition of  a  good  common  school  education. 

This  part  of  his  bond  and  duty,  it  seems,  the  old  curmud- 
geon never  did  or  would  fulfill,  thinking,  I  suppose,  that  learn- 
ing was  only  one  of  the  worldly  vanities,  and  would  most 
likely  turn  the  boy's  head.  William  seems  to  have  been,  from 
the  beginning,  remarkable  more  for  wilfulness  than  any  other 
trait ;  and  I  suppose  it  was  quite  as  much  because  old  Saun- 
ders  refused  to  send  him  to  school  as  from  any  inherent  love 
of  learning,  that  he  determined  to  learn  to  read  anyhow. 

Little  blue-eyed  Mattie  Saunders,  who  seemed  a  stray 
angel  by  the  fireside  of  the  old  beast  who  called  her  child, 
somehow  or  other  divined  the  wishes  and  purpose  of  the 
young  Smith ;  and  as  her  excellent  mother  had  taken  care  to 
learn  her  to  read  as  soon  as  she  could  speak,  from  a  sort  of 
melancholy  presentiment  that  she  had  not  long  to  tarry  with 
her,  she  proved  a  very  capable  and  certainly  remarkably 
successful  instructress.  Certain  it  is,  that  if  he  did  not 
take  to  learning  for  learning's  own  sweet  sake  altogether, 
there  proved  to  be  a  most  salutary  attraction  in  that  little 
white  and  dumpy  finger,  gliding  from  letter  to  letter,  to  fix 
the  attention  of  the  wilful  and  headstrong  boy. 

He  made  such  rapid  progress  that  he  soon  became  tho 
teacher  of  his  young  mistress  in  turn ;  and  as  this  relation 


214  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

between  the  young  ones  had  to  be  kept  scrupulously  private, 
the  pleasures  of  such  stolen  intercourse  were  greatly  lightened. 

This  condition  of  things,  charming  enough,  no  doubt,  to 
both  parties,  was  most  unpleasantly  broken  up  by  the  acci- 
dental discovery  of  its  existence  by  the  old  man,  who,  it  seems, 
was  furious  thereat,  and  from  that  time  commenced  a  series 
of  petty  and  abominable  persecutions,  which  almost  drove  the 
forlorn  and  wretched  child  mad. 

The  gentle  consolations  which  he  had  heretofore  received 
from  sweet  little  Mattie,  were  now  denied  him.  He  was 
banished,  in  mid-winter,  to  the  barn  to  sleep  on  the  hay,  with 
only  a  single  thin  and  tattered  blanket  to  cover  his  shivering 
body. 

The  heroic  boy  bore  all  this  for  eighteen  months  without  a 
murmur,  and  all  for  the  sake  of  his  little  mistress,  with  whom, 
in  spite  of  the  vigilance  of  the  father,  he  managed  to  obtain 
occasional  interviews,  in  which,  with  many  tears  on  both 
sides,  the  testimonials  of  their  pure  and  innocent  affection 
were  hurriedly  exchanged. 

Old  Saundcrs  had  but  the  one  child ;  and  having  amassed  a 
considerable  fortune  by  the  most  parsimonious  and  usurious 
practices,  he  was  constantly  haunted  by  the  apprehension, 
even  in  her  childhood,  that  every  one  who  approached  little 
Mattie  did  so  with  an  eye  to  her  money.  The  child  was 
tender-hearted,  meek,  and  confiding,  as  her  poor  mother  had 
been  before  her ;  and  the  wretch  remembered  how  even  lie 
had  wrought  upon  the  isolation  of  that  poor  woman,  and 
induced  her  to  confide  to  him  her  little  all,  as  well  as  life, 
and  he  very  properly  concluded,  that  if  such  a  creature  as 
himself  could  thus  win  upon  the  confidence  of  the  mother — • 
even  though  it  had  only  lasted  for  a  few  days  after  marriage — • 
who  might  not  aspire  to  win  that  of  the  child,  that  resembled 
her  so  closely. 

He  therefore  watched  her  most  jealously,  and  cut  her  off 
as  much  as  possible  from  all  intercourse  with  the  outward 


OLD   BILL   SMITH,   THE   SILENT   HUNTER.  215 

world — even  in  the  distant  perspective  of  womanhood — tho 
idea  of  her  marriage  and  a  dower  was  almost  death  to  him. 
To  part  with  any  portion  of  his  precious  and  ill-gotten  gold 
was  like  wringing  the  drops  of  his  heart-blood  upon  the 
thirsty  sands.  He  at  once  became  furious  the  moment  he 
discovered  the  intimacy  and  childish  sympathy  between  the 
boy  Smith  and  his  child.  There  was  no  knowing  what  such 
a  thing  might  come  to ;  and  the  starveling,  whom  he  flattered 
himself  he  had  apprenticed  out  of  charity,  might  prove  the 
viper  upon  his  hearth. 

Such  were  the  barbarities  practised  upon  the  helpless 
orphan,  that,  although  too  manly  himself  ever  to  complain, 
they  became  the  talk  of  the  neighborhood ;  and,  while  some 
persons  openly  asserted  that  old  Saunders  was  trying  to  kill 
the  boy  by  inches,  others  had  determined  to  have  him  pre- 
sented to  the  next  Grand  Inquest  that  sat  in  the  county,  for 
barbarity  and  neglect  of  duty. 

Before,  however,  this  very  necessary  and  proper  step  could 
be  taken,  these  persecutions  had  grown  beyond  any  further 
possibility  of  endurance,  and  in  a  fit  of  ungovernable  despair, 
the  miserable  child  made  up  his  rags  into  a  little  bundle,  in 
which  he  also  secreted  a  few  scraps  of  food,  which  little 
Mattie,  to  whom  he  had  made  known  his  purpose,  had  ob- 
tained for  him.  He  then  crept  into  her  little  room  by  the 
window  at  night,  and  after  weeping  long,  as  if  their  little 
hearts  would  burst — in  each  other's  arms — for  each  felt  that 
this  parting  was  from  the  only  friend  they  had  in  the  world 
— the  poor  boy  comforted  the  tender  mourner  by  assuring 
her,  in  a  tone  of  singular  confidence,  that  when  he  got  to  be 
a  great  man  he  was  going  to  come  back  for  her  and  make  her 
his  little  wife. 

Even  at  the  early  age  of  thirteen  the  remarkable  magnetic 
power  which  afterwards  distinguished  the  man,  was  developed 
— for,  in  relating  this  occurrence  himself  in  after-life,  he  said 
that  when  he  spoke  this  in  a  bold,  confident  tone,  the  little 


216  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

trembler  ceased  to  weep,  and  looking  up  into  his  face  with  a 
smile,  said — 

"Well,  then,  you  may  run  along,  Billy — I'll  wait  for  you!" 

He  was  off  in  an  instant,  and  with  her  last  pure  kiss  upon 
his  lips,  he  plied  his  little  legs  as  fast  as  they  could  carry 
him  on  the  road  which  he  had  learned  led  to  the  capital  of 
the  State.  His  heart  was  light,  his  spirit  bold,  and  the  great 
world  before  him  a  shrouded  mystery.  He  reached  Raleigh 
in  about  a  week,  begging  his  way  after  his  own  little  store 
gave  out.  He  must  have  exhibited  a  great  deal  of  audacity 
and  address,  for  a  child  of  his  age,  to  have  succeeded  in 
getting  through  such  a  journey  without  being  stopped  by  the 
authorities  somewhere  on  the  way.  However,  it  is  not  more 
remarkable  than  many  other  of  the  events  of  his  life. 

After  reaching  Raleigh,  his  life  was  of  course  wretchedly 
precarious  for  some  time.  He  prowled  about  the  kitchens  of 
the  gentry  at  meal  times,  and  lived  upon  such  of  the  scraps 
of  the  tables  as  the  negroes  chose  to  throw  to  him  in  compas- 
sion— at  night  he  crawled  into  some  shed  or  stable  to  shiver 
in  the  straw  till  morning. 

It  happened  that  a  kind-hearted  old  Judge  of  the  Circuit 
Court — Campbell  by  name — who  was  a  very  early  riser,  and 
always  went,  the  first  thing,  to  see  how  the  cattle  and  horses 
came  on,  found  one  morning  a  feeble  looking  child,  with 
features  ghastly  and  sharpened  by  hunger,  lying  in  ^he 
trough  of  his  cow-house,  which  was  a  close  shed  around  three 
sides  of  the  stable.  lie  stopped,  astonished,  to  gaze  upon 
him.  The  little  fellow  had  not  rags  enough  upon  him  to 
cover  his  nakedness,  and  had  drawn  down  some  of  the  hay 
from  the  manger  above  to  cover  him,  and  the  whole  pile 
shook  as  he  shuddered  with  the  cold. 

The  old  man  gazed  for  a  moment  or  two  upon  that  troubled 
sleep,  the  irregular  breathing,  broken  so  often  with  faint 
moans,  that  they  touched  deeply,  and  as  the  tears  sprang  to 
his  eves,  he  murmured — • 


OLD   BILL   SMITH,    THE    SILENT   HUNTER.  217 

"  This  must  not  be  so  while  I  have  a  crust.  Children  must 
not  starve  in  such  a  country  as  this !"  So  saying,  he  took  the 
child  gently  in  his  arms,  and  bore  it  into  his  house,  where  his 
good  old  wife  immediately  took  the  dying  orphan  to  her 
bosom,  and  soon  warmed  it  into  life  again;  but  with  the 
utmost  exercise  of  her  matronly  skill,  it  was  several  days 
before  the  exhausted  little  one  could  recover  strength  enough 
to  give  any  coherent  account  of  himself. 

Judge  Campbell  knew  old  Saunders  well,  and  when  he 
heard  the  boy's  straight-forward  story,  he  had  every  reason  to 
believe  that  it  wa's  true,  every  word  of  it.  In  the  meantime 
he  had  got  up  a  great  interest  in  this  little  ivaif  and  estray, 
which  it  had  pleased  Providence  to  cast  in  his  path ;  and  as 
the  old  couple  had  no  children,  but  two  daughters  who  were 
married  and  comfortably  settled,  they  finally  determined  to 
submit  to  what  seemed  like  a  requisition  upon  them  by  the 
Father  of  all  on  behalf  of  the  fatherless,  and  adopted  little 
Smith  into  their  family  as  a  son. 

The  Circuits  were  some  of  them  very  large  at  that  time,  as 
was  especially  the  case  with  that  of  Judge  Campbell's.  Soon 
after  this  event  he  started  on  his  round,  and  what  was  his 
inexpressible  delight  to  find  the  first  case  on  the  docket,  in 
the  county  which  had  the  honor  of  owning  old  Saunders  for 
a  citizen,  marked  "  Commonwealth  vs.  Samuel  Saunders,  for 
abducting,  murdering,  or  otherwise  unlawfully  making  away 
with  an  indentured  male  child,  known  as  William  Smith," 
&c.  &c. 

The  old  man  could  scarcely  contain  his  gravity  upon  the 
bench.  He  immediately  ordered  up  the  case — ruled  down  all 
quibbling  attempts  to  obtain  a  postponement — and  it  was  the 
general  remark  among  the  lawyers,  that  the  usually  lenient 
Judge  was  more  severe  and  harsh  this  term  than  they  had 
ever  known  him  to  be  before  in  twenty  years  upon  the  bench. 

The  e-ise  came  on.  The  Judge  compelled  the  minutest 
scrutiny  of  all  the  facts,  and  a  most  damning  case  was  made 


218  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS.  ' 

out  from  the  evidence.  His  own  lawyers  were  cowed,  and 
the  pale  and  frightened  wretch  listened  with  ghastly  face, 
chattering  teeth,  and  trembling  hands  to  the  Judge's  charge 
to  the  jury,  which  sounded  in  its  solemn  tones  and  terrible 
denunciations  much  more  like  a  sentence  of  death  than  a 
charge — when,  as  he  was  apparently  about  winding  up  -with 
positive  instructions  to  the  jury  to  find  the  prisoner  guilty — 
there  was  the  sound  of  carriage  wheels  outside,  and  then  a 
sudden  commotion  in  the  court. 

In  a  moment  the  Sheriff  stepped  forward  and  placed  a  slip 
of  paper  in  the  hands  of  the  Judge,  who  had  paused  at  the 
first  sound,  and  now  read  the  paper  calmly  over  twice ;  then 
deliberately  throwing  back  his  spectacles,  he  nodded  assent 
to  the  Sheriff,  who,  with  a  sort  of  half  smile  upon  his  face, 
made  his  way  out  of  the  court  room,  and  in  a  moment  re- 
turned, pushing  through  the  crowd,  bearing  in  his  arms,  the 
attenuated  form  of  the  missing  boy,  William  Smith  ! 

Such  a  thrill  and  murmur  as  ran  through  that  court  room, 
— the  old  miser,  who  had  at  first  sprung  to  his  feet,  con- 
vulsively dropped,  swooning,  into  his  seat,  for  the  child  had 
been  artfully  draped  in  white,  and  looked  as  if  it  might  have 
just  come  from  the  grave,  and  the  hoary-headed  villain  really 
did  not  know  whether  it  was  dead  or  alive, — for  Mattie  !  ten- 
der, timid,  gentle  Mattie ! — had  kept  her  little  companion's 
counsel,  as  she  had  promised,  in  spite  of  all  the  threats  of  her 
father,  and  all  the  terrors  of  a  public  trial.  Indeed,  poor 
child,  she  did  not  know  herself  whether  he  was  alive,  and  had 
been  almost  crying  her  life  away  because,  in  her  innocence, 
she  supposed  the  neighbors  who  had  presented  her  father 
must  of  course  have  known  the  fact  of  his  murder  before  they 
did  it — he  was  in  truth  dead  to  her ! 

The  scene  that  follows  baffles  description.  Old  Saunders 
was  borne  from  the  court  room  in  convulsions,  and  shriek  was 
heard  following  shriek  from  him  until  the  doors  of  the  jail 
closed  upon  him.  The  Judge  then  ran  rapidly  over  the  facts 


OLD   BILL   SMITH,   THE   SILENT   HUNTER.  219 

of  the  case  as  nearly  as  he  could  without  detailing  his  own 
share  in  the  plot, — which  was  entirely  unnecessary,  as  his  ob- 
ject had  been  to  further  the  cause  of  justice  and  humanity 
by  punishing  this  monster  morally,  if  it  could  not  be  done 
legally, — and  then  exhibiting  the  boy  to  the  jury,  declared  the 
bond  of  indenture  to  be  forfeited,  and  that  Saunders  should 
be  found  in  costs  of  suit,  and  compelled  to  give  security  for 
the  support  and  education  of  the  boy  until  he  was  eighteen. 

Such  was  the  eventful  opening  of  the  public  career  of 
"Billy,"  as  poor  Mattie  called  him.  When  we  next  hear  of 
him  he  was  a  gay,  voluble,  dashing  young  lawyer,  successful 
in  his  first  case,  and  indeed  in  almost  every  other  to  which 
he  put  his  hand.  The  old  Judge,  his  adopted  father,  had 
retired  from  the  bench  upon  a  handsome  competency,  and 
though  now  very  decrepid,  could  not  resist  the  gratification 
of  listening  to  the  forensic  triumphs  of  his  "  pet  nursling  of 
the  cow-troughs,"  as  he  used  to  term  William,  humorously. 
Whenever  William  had  an  interesting  case  on  hand,  the  old 
man's  carriage  was  invariably  seen  to  roll  up  to  the  court 
house  door,  and  he  to  hobble  in  on  crutches,  when  the  duti- 
ful young  man  was  instantly  at  his  side  to  assist  him  up  the 
accustomed  steps  to  the  old  accustomed  chair,  which  still  held 
its  place  for  his  occasional  accommodation.  After  seeing  him 
comfortably  seated,  and  his  gouty  feet  adjusted  with  scrupulous 
care,  would  return  with  redoubled  energy  to  his  case. 

It  was  always  noticed  that  when  the  venerable  ex-judge 
was  present,  the  face  of  the  young  lawyer  flushed  with  anxious 
excitement,  and  then  he  made  his  very  happiest  efforts,  and 
carrying  everything  before  him  by  the  impetuous  vehemence 
of  his  oratory,  never  lost  a  case  ;  and  the  father  and  patron, 
in  one,  would  sit  with  half  closed  eyes,  in  a  sort  of  rapt 
ecstacy  of  enjoyment,  while  his  lips  occasionally  moved  in 
unconscious  approval  as  the  young  man  let  off  his  happier 
hits.  Smith  soon  became  exceedingly  popular,  and  his  clients 
learned  to  avail  their  causes  of  this  noble  trait  of  Smith,  in 


220  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

something  of  the  same  spirit  of  the  wretches  who  made  for- 
tunes off  of  the  vice  of  poor  George  Moreland.  When  a  new 
picture  was  to  be  wrung  from  their  victim,  they  came  to  him 
with  a  pittance  of  ready  gold  in  one  hand  and  a  hrandy  bottle 
in  the  other ;  and  as  the  latter  was  always  the  more  potent 
of  the  two,  they  made  up  the  difference  due  in  gold,  in  cheap 
and  villainous  brandy. 

Smith,  like  Moreland,  was  too  lazy  to  work  under  the  ordi- 
nary stimulus  of  money,  for  which  he  never  could  be  made  to 
care,  and  when  they  found  out  this  "beautiful  weakness,"  as 
the  mercenary  knaves  were  in  the  habit  of  terming  it,  they 
never  failed,  when  he  was  to  speak  on  a  doubtful  case  where 
there  was  much  at  stake,  to  have  the  old  man  informed  of  the 
day  and  hour,  and  thus  drag  him  forth,  well  or  ill — for  go  he 
would, — to  act  as  a  sort  of  spiritual  brandy  bottle  upon  his 
adopted  son.  They  knew  well  that  Smith  would  sooner  lose  his 
right  arm  than  make  a  failure  in  a  legal  argument  before  his 
beloved  and  venerated  patron.  What  is  still  more  strange, 
neither  Smith  nor  the  old  judge  ever  suspected  this  infamous 
game,  although  it  was  regularly  practised  upon  them,  until  the 
death  of  the  latter,  and  was  well  known  to  every  one  about 
the  courts. 

The  Judge  lived  just  long  enough  to  bless  the  son  of  his 
adoption  and  his  pride,  who  had  been  elected  to  the  Assembly 
of  the  Province  the  very  year  he  came  of  lawful  age.  The 
good  man  then  lay  down  in  peace  to  die,  for  now  he  had  seen 
the  fruition  of  his  hope.  lie  left  his  property  divided  equally 
between  his  two  daughters  and  the  adopted  son.  lie  was  soon 
followed  by  his  faithful  dame,  and  now  the  young  orphan  stood 
once  more  alone  in  the  world.  Not  entirely  alone,  spiritually, 
either,  for  Mattie  was  still  steadfast  to  her  childish  affection, 
and  would  listen  to  no  suitors  that  came.  To  be  sure,  had  she 
been  disposed  to  coquetry,  the  indulgence  would  have  been 
something  difficult,  for  old  Saundcrs  became  more  and  more 
miserly  as  he  grew  older,  and  more  watchful  of  his  daughter. 


OLD   BILL   SMITH,    THE    SILENT   HUNTER.  221 

William  and  she  had,  however,  in  spite  of  his  vigilance, 
managed,  through  the  good  offices  of  a  relation  of  Mattie's, 
•who  had  learned  to  admire  Smith,  and  had  always  loved 
Mattie,  to  keep  up  a  sort  of  broken  correspondence  by  letter, 
and  even  to  obtain  an  occasional  interview,  which  was  suffi- 
cient, during  the  long  period  I  have  passed  over,  to  keep 
always  bright  and  unbroken  the  links  of  that  subtle  chain 
which  seems  from  the  first  gradually  binding  their  lives  more 
inseparably  in  one. 

Smith,  though  considered  a  rising  young  mar.  with  a  good 
fortune  already  in  hand,  and  every  prospect  of  great  honors 
and  a  greater  fortune  before  him,  and  therefore,  of  course, 
greatly  sought  after  by  the  highest  ladies  of  the  land,  yet 
never  for  one  moment  did  he  falter  or  flinch  in  allegiance  to 
his  gentle  mistress  with  the  chubby  fingers !  When  he  came 
to  realize  that  it  was  really  love  that  he  bore  her,  he  felt  at 
once  the  serenity  of  entire  content ;  and  that  love  was  enough 
for  him,  it  filled  his  being  and  he  asked  no  other.  The  sub- 
ject was  never  mentioned  between  them  until  after  the  death 
of  his  adopted  parents,  for  William  seems  to  have  always  felt 
as  if  his  first  duty  was  to  them  and  gratitude, — love  and 
himself  afterwards. 

He  was  now  in  such  circumstances  as  permitted  him  to 
think  of  marriage ;  as  it  "was  utterly  hopeless  to  expect  the 
consent  of  the  miserly  old  Saunders,  he  took  the  matter  in 
his  own  hands,  and  in  defiance  married  the  sweet  Mattie,  who 
was  now  of  age,  almost  under  his  eyes,  and  leaving  him  to 
rave,  blaspheme  and  tear  his  hair  at  his  own  leisure,  quietly 
installed  his  bride  as  mistress  of  the  old  town  mansion  left 
him  by  the  Judge.  Mattie  proved  a  thrifty  and  a  tender 
wife,  and  bore  him  sons  and  daughters,  comely  to  look  upon, 
and  that  gladdened  their  father's  heart. 

He,  in  the  meantime,  grew  apace  in  manly  honors,  and  at 
the  time  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  was  forty-five 


222  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

years  of  age,  and  one  of  the  leading  men,  in  a  quiet  way,  of 
the  patriot  party. 

Since  his  marriage,  and  up  to  this  time,  Smith's  character 
seemed  to  have  undergone  a  change,  which  was  specially  re- 
marked by  those  who  had  watched  his  entrance  upon  public 
life.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  marriage  he  had  exhibited  the 
most  recklessly  spendthrift  disposition ;  although  enjoying  a 
lucrative  practice,  yet  it  was  observed  that  he  always  wanted 
money.  He  had  no  such  apparent  habits  of  extravagance  as 
could  account  for  such  expenditure,  so  that  he  had  the  full 
benefit  of  all  sorts  of  dark  hints  and  vague  surmises,  not  one 
of  which  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  true. 

There  were  a  few  who  knew  him  better,  who  could  have 
told  how  the  base  vultures  and  harpies  that  always  flock 
around  where  there  is  a  great  heart  to  be  torn  and  fed  upon, 
regularly  fleeced  him  of  more  than  half  the  dues  for  his  ser- 
vices, by  some  servile  and  whining  appeal  to  his  well  known 
magnanimity,  and  singular  disregard  of  gold.  He  was  sys- 
tematically victimized  by  a  whole  flock  of  such  foul  birds, 
who  chuckled  over  the  thought  that  they  were  gulling  the 
smart  young  lawyer ;  a  great  mistake  ! — for  his  intuition  of 
character  and  motive  was  as  quick  as  lightning. 

His  keen,  gray  eye  was  never  at  fault;  and  he  gave  them 
what  they  cringed  for  out  of  contemptuous  disgust  for  the 
creatures  and  the  filthy  god  they  worshipped.  He  loathed 
the  one  as  much  as  the  other,  and  was  equally  anxious  to  get 
rid  of  both.  His  charities  were  just  as  reckless,  though  it 
began  soon  to  be  found  that  he  was  rather  a  dangerous  per- 
son to  task  the  patience  of  too  far. 

From  the  day  he  married  Mattie  he  became  a  cautious, 
saving  man ;  and  the  hungry  wretches  that  had  battened  upon 
his  lofty  generosity,  or  rather,  scorn,  were  soon  scattered  in 
dismay  before  the  stern  brow  and  powerful  arm  that  hurled 
them  right  and  left  from  his  path.  He  had  Mattie,  beloved 


OLD    BILL    SMITH,    THE    SILENT    HUNTER.  223 

Mattie,  to  provide  for  now,  and  her  precious  little  ones ; 
there  was  to  be  no  more  trifling.  He  became  a  rigid  econo- 
mist, or  rather,  Mattie  economized  for  him,  and  all  his  ex- 
penditures were  left  entirely  to  her  frugal  and  patient 
housewifery.  He  neither  gave  nor  spent  now  without  first 
taking  counsel  of  his  heart-elected  monitress,  and  how  skill- 
fully she  managed  may  be  shown  in  the  fact  that  in  twenty 
years  after  their  marriage  Smith  was  accounted  one  of  the 
wealthiest  men  in  the  province.  "With  this  change  came 
another,  which  was  accounted  quite  as  droll  by  the  wiseacres. 
As  a  young  man,  he  had  shown  great  ambition  for  political 
distinction,  his  prospects  were  extremely  flattering,  but  he 
withdrew  after  serving  one  term,  and  steadily  refused  ever 
afterwards  to  be  drawn  into  public  life  again. 

But  now  that  the  great  struggle  for  freedom  was  fairly 
entered  upon,  the  William  Smith  of  twenty-five  was  waked 
up  again  suddenly,  after  having  slept  the  charmed  sleep  of 
domestic  love  and  happiness  for  twenty  years.  Now  again 
his  contempt  for*gold,  but  as  a  medium  of  good,  a  mechanical 
means,  exhibited  itself  as  strikingly,  but  in  a  more  rational 
and  consistent  manner  than  before ;  now  his  carefully  hoarded 
wealth  flowed  like  water,  and  the  gentle  Mattie  saw  it  go  and 
said  never  a  word  nor  shed  a  tear.  So  long  as  her  beloved 
was  spared  to  her  the  gold  might  go.  They  had  no  right  to  it 
when  the  blessed  Congress  and  brave  army  needed  it.  They 
had  no  right  to  keep  William  selfishly  at  home  with  them,  to 
sleep  in  a  warm  bed  when  so  many  of  our  brave  people  were 
tracking  the  snows  with  the  blood  of  their  bare  feet,  and  when 
General  Washington  himself  was  glad  to  sleep  upon  a  snow 
bank  with  only  his  cloak  for  covering.  "  Let  the  gold  go  ! 
let  the  gold  go!"  the  brave  woman  was  wont  to  say, — "it 
is  all  for  liberty,  and  the  children  will  be  better  for  that 
than  for  all  the  wealth  of  the  province!"  and  the  gold 
did  go  ! 

Aye,   there  was  no  keeping  back  of  the  tribute  there ! 


224  WILD  SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

William  Smith  had  always  exhibited  a  remarkable  disinclina- 
tion for  scenes  of  bloodshed,  considering  the  character  of  the 
times.  He  did  not,  even  now,  join  the  patriot  army ;  but,  aa 
the  chief  of  the  Vigilance  Committee,  did  far  better  service  with 
his  prompt  sagacity  and  profuse  liberality  than  he  could 
probably  have  done  in  the  field.  We  cannot  follow  him 
through  the  details  of  the  acts  of  this  noblest  period  of  his 
career ;  suffice  to  say,  that  when  the  war  ended  in  our  dear- 
bought  independence, — he  first  took  time  to  look  upon  th< 
condition  of  his  own  affairs ;  the  survey  exhibited  himself  to 
to  himself  a  beggar  ! 

Everything  had  been  swallowed  up  in  the  vortex,  except 
some  few  fragments  of  landed  estate ;  and  they  had  only  been 
spared  him  because  nothing  could  be  raised  on  them  in  such 
troublous  times.  lie  smiled  upon  Mattie  as  he  looked  around 
proudly  upon  five  handsome,  manly  boys  and  three  daughters, 
ail  pleasant  variations  upon  her,  and  patting  her  still  fresh 
check,  said  gaily, — 

"  Missus, — it's  all  gone  ! — I  am  proud  of  the  way  it  went 
— we've  gained  our  holy  cause, — I  am  content ! — what  say 
you,  woman  ?" 

"  Dear  Billy,  what  should  I  say  ! — Am  I  not  proud  of  it 
as  you!" 

"  Well,  missus,  neighbor  Daniel  Boone  has  got  back  from 
Kan-tuck-ee,  across  the  mountains,  as  he  calls  it.  He  says 
it's  a  great  country,  greater  and  more  beautiful  than  any  on 
this  side  the  Alleghanies, — and  Daniel's  a  reliable  man,  you 
know  ! — and  that  plenty  of  splendid  land  is  to  be  had  for  the 
settling  and  defending  it ;  our  boys  are  good  riflemen, — 
what  say  you,  Mattie  ?" 

Mattie  turned  a  little  pale,  and  laid  her  cheek  against  that 
of  her  husband,  but  answered  in  a  firm,  round  voice, — 

"I  am  ready,  Billy,  to  follow  you!" 

And  this  is  all  that  was  said  between  them  ;  it  was  settled ! 

This  was  a  few  years  afte*-  the  time  that  Daniel  Boone  and 


OLD   BILL   SMITH,   THE   SILENT   HUNTER.  225 

his  brother  came  in  for  their  wives  and  families.  The  news  of 
his  wonderful  discoveries  had  flown  like  wildfire  throughout 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  in  both  of  which  States  he  was 
well  known.  It  had  caused  a  great  and  general  ferment 
among  all  bold  and  reckless  spirits  in  the  old  States,  as  well 
those  of  the  border,  as  those  whom  a  long  war  had  unfitted 
for  any  other  than  a  life  of  adventure.  Various  companies 
had  been  fitted  out  in  different  directions  who  had  followed 
the  return  of  the  Boones.  Settlements  had  been  formed — 
forts  built — and  even  municipal  regulations  commenced. 

The  place  of  general  rendezvous  was  across  the  mountains, 
in  what  was  called  Powell's  Valley,  and  the  settlement  on 
Clinch  river  was  the  Frontier  fort.  The  emigrants  assembled 
in  Powell's  Valley  in  the  Spring  of  1784,  and  when  all  col- 
lected, started  on  their  long  journey.  Among  them  was  the 
family  of  William  Smith.  He  had  converted  all  that  was  left 
him  into  live  stock,  implements,  &c.  Himself  and  his  whole 
family — Mattie  and  the  girls  included — were  in  the  highest 
spirits  in  view  of  the  novelty  and  wild  loveliness  of  the  scene 
they  were  to  traverse. 

The  emigrants  numbered  fifty  souls,  the  great  majority  of 
them  women  and  children.  The  journey,  as  they  were  pre- 
pared to  expect,  proved  a  rough  and  tedio'us  one,  but  they 
saw  nothing  of  Indians,  as  yet.  They  arrived  on  the  banks 
of  the  Licking  river  in  the  ordinary  time.  Harrod,  who  had 
several  years  since  built  the  fort  where  Harrodsburg  stands, 
was  now  returning  from  a  visit  to  Virginia;  and  he,  with 
several  other  of  the  principal  men,  Smith  among  them,  left 
their  families,  as  they  supposed,  with  a  sufficient  guard  in 
camp,  and  pushed  forward  to  find  Boone,  at  either  Harrods- 
burg or  Boonesborough,  and  bring  back  some  supplies. 

Alas,  for  that  parting  !  when  they  returned  six  days  after- 
wards, as  the  day  was  breaking,  having  accomplished  the 
object  of  their  mission,  they  found  the  camp  just  broken  up,  and 
following  on  the  scattered  trail,  caught  up  with  the  frightened 

15 


226  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

remnant  of  the  emigrants,  in  full  retreat  back  for  the  settle- 
ments on  Clinch  river. 

" Where  is  my  wife?  and  where  are  my  children?"  le- 
manded  Smith,  in  a  cold,  stern  tone,  of  the  person  under 
whose  command  the  camp  had  been  left. 

"  You  will  find  them  where  you  left  them  !  Ask  the  Shawa- 
nees ;  they  can  tell  you  the  rest." 

"  You  have  neglected  your  trust,  and  they  are  murdered," 
Smith  replied,  in  a  deliberate  but  trembling  voice. 

"  And  yet  we  find  you  retreating ! — where  is  your  man- 
hood, wretch  !  coward !"  he  shrieked,  as  he  sprang  at  the 
throat  of  the  man,  and  hurled  him  to  the  ground  with  such 
furious  violence  that  the  blood  gushed  from  his  nose  and 
mouth,  and  he  was  thought  for  a  long  time  to  be  dying. 
Without  pausing  an  instant  to  see  what  he  had  done,  the 
unfortunate  man  turned,  and  with  the  speed  of  the  wild  deer, 
fled  back  to  the  deserted  camp. 

Several  hours  subsequent,  Harrod  and  some  others  returned 
to  look  after  the  dead,  and  they  found  Smith  stretched  upon 
the  bodies  of  Mattie  and  the  children,  with  his  arms  spread 
in  the  endeavor  to  clasp  them  all  in  one  embrace,  lie  looked 
up  with  tearless  eyes,  and  smiling  with  a  terrible  serenity, 
took  the  spade  fr6m  the  hand  of  the  nearest  person,  and  com- 
menced digging  a  grave  for  them.  The  sturdy  men  around, 
moved  and  awed  by  the  speechless  silence  with  which  he  pro- 
ceeded, offered  in  low  whispers  to  assist  him.  lie  motioned 
them  solemnly  away,  and  would  not  be  aided.  lie  thus 
worked  on  for  hours,  until  a  grave  wide  enough  and  deep 
enough  had  been  hollowed — then  reaching  the  cold  form  of 
Mattie  from  the  spot  where  it  lay,  he  clasped  it  to  his  breast 
a  moment — held  it  off  for  one  long,  fixed  gaze — pressed 
those  dear  lips,  and  laid  her  gently  down  to  rest.  He  then 
placed  her  first-born  son  upon  her  right  side,  and  as  he  saw 
the  frown  of  desperate  battle  still  on  his  fair  young  brow, 
and  the  shattered  rifle  clutched  in  the  grip  of  death,  he  smiled 


OLD   BILL   SMITH,    THE   SILENT   HUNTER.  227 

a  strange  and  terrible  smile.  Her  youngest  born  lie  lay  next 
her  heart,  and  to  each,  as  he  disposed  the  stiffening  form  in 
order,  he  gave  the  last  embrace  and  farewell  kiss.  This  done 
he  stood  on  the  side  of  the  grave  for  some  moments,  gazing 
silently  down  upon  the  home,  the  earthly  heaven  he  had  lost, 
and  then,  without  a  word  or  groan,  proceeded  to  fill  up  the 
grave.  His  comrades  waited  until  he  had  finished,  and  had 
heaped  a  pile  of  stones  to  mark  the  place.  They  expected 
him  to  return  with  them  now  to  the  new  camp  which  had 
been  formed.  He,  however,  took  up  his  rifle,  waved  his  hand 
in  solemn  adieu,  and  without  speaking,  disappeared  on  the 
trail  of  the  Shawanees. 

Little  was  generally  known,  and  less  said  about  Smith, 
from  the  time  of  this  disappearance.  It  was  generally  be- 
lieved that  Boone,  Harrod,  and  a  few  others,  knew  more 
of  him  than  they  chose  to  tell ;  the  most  that  could  be  got 
out  of  any  one  concerning  him,  was,  a  significant  touch  of 
the  forehead  and  shake  of  the  head.  Boone,  in  particular, 
was  believed  to  have  frequent  interviews  with  him,  as  he 
would  take  with  him  at  such  suspected  times  a  double  supply 
of  powder  and  lead. 

For  a  year  or  two  the  mystery  of  his  solitary  life  received 
no  elucidation  whatever,  until  a  Shawanee,  having  been  made 
captive  by  the  people  of  Boones'  Fort,  they  heard  from  him 
a  terrible  story  of  an  Evil  Demon  that  had  been  haunting  the 
war-path  of  the  Shawanees  for  nearly  two  years,  and  that 
from  the  hunting-trail  and  war-path  together,  more  than 
thirty  of  their  best  braves,  including  several  chiefs,  had  dis- 
appeared. The  Shawanees  believed  that  the  Great  Spirit 
was  angry  with  them,  and  had  sent  a  Medicine  Spirit  to 
punish  them.  They  were  nearly  determined  on  this  account 
to  leave  their  hunting-grounds  in  Kan-tuck-ee  forever.  When 
questioned  as  to  whether  they  had  ever  got  sight  of  this  Medi- 
cine, the  answer  was — that  they  had  never  seen  it  distinctly, 
but  that  of  late  their  young  men  had  pursued  it  often,  and 


228  WILD   SCENES   AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

always  came  back  with  some  of  their  number  missing.  They 
had  never  been  able  to  overtake,  or  even  to  approach  the 
mysterious  and  terrible  Medicine  Spirit. 

After  this  report  got  abroad,  men  began  to  mention  the 
name  of  Bill  Smith  again — but  it  was  with  a  feeling  of  unac- 
countable dread,  and  in  low  voices  that  they  spoke.  The 
timidity  and  uncertain  movements  of  desultory  attack  which 
began  to  characterize  the  warfare  of  the  Shawanees,  once  the 
best  organized  and  most  formidable  of  the  tribes,  came  now 
to  attract  attention,  too.  But  all  conjecture  was  set  to  rest, 
when,  after  awhile,  Smith  was  seen  to  make  his  appear- 
ance at  the  Forts  occasionally — but  this  was  only  when  the 
Shawanees  were  known  to  be  engaged  in  a  foray.  He  usually 
came  in  ahead  of  the  Indians,  or  after  spme  unaccountable 
fashion,  suddenly  appeared  in  the  midst  "of  a  battle  with  them. 

He  was  at  the  Blue  Lick,  at  the  Raisin,  threw  himself  into 
Brian's  Fort  when  it  was  stormed ;  and,  indeed,  he  was  known 
to  have  been  in  nearly  all  the  principal  battles  in  which 
Boone  was  present. 

He  was  never  heard  to  speak  to  any  one — he  came  without 
a  greeting  and  went  without  farewell.  He  was  regarded  with 
a  curious  feeling  of  dread  and  respect  by  the  Border  people, 
none  of  whom  ever  ventured  to  address  a  word  to  him.  The 
Shawanees  were  driven  first  across  the  Kan-tuck-ee  River, 
then  across  the  Green  River. 

Bill  Smith  disappeared,  and  never  crossed  Green  River 
again ;  they  thought  towards  the  North  that  he  must  finally 
have  fallen  a  sacrifice  to  his  monomania  of  vengeance.  It 
will  be  remembered  by  what  accident  I  found  his  grave,  and 
heard  from  old  Uncle  Jake  Latham  something  with  regard  to 
his  latter  years. 

After  seeing  the  last  canoe  of  the  Shawanees  launched 
upon  the  Ohio,  and  sending  a  death-messenger  in  farewell 
after  it,  the  old  man  had  built  him  a  hut  in  the  most  inacces- 
sible.part  of  the  Green  River  Hills,  and  there  the  remainder 


OLD   BILL   SMITH,   THE   SILEXT   HUNTER.  229 

of  his  days  were  spent  in  solitary  quiet.  He  hunted  just 
enough  to  furnish  him  with  food,  and  powder  and  shot — never 
went  near  any  one  but  Uncle  Jake,  who  made  his  purchases 
for  him ;  and  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight  was  found  dead  in 
his  cabin.  He  seemed  sleeping  calmly,  with  a  serene  smile 
still  upon  his  face,  such  as  might  have  greeted  his  Mattie 
above,  waiting  for  him.  His  face  in  death  alone  had  lost 
that  still  and  fearful  expression  of  astonied  ferocity,  which 
was  said  never  to  have  left  it  from  the  time  of  the  death 
of  Mattie  and  his  children.  Monomaniacs  are  proverbially 
known  for  the  frequently  marvellous  cunning  displayed  by 
them  in  bringing  about  the  accomplishment  of  the  one  object, 
which  is  the  single  thought  of  their  lives. 

"Vengeance  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord !"  Who,  at  this  time, 
in  weighing  the  acts  of  this  remarkable  man,  while  wasting 
under  the  long  fever  of  his  terrible  vengeance,  shall  venture 
to  forget,  "Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged  !" 

It  was  ever  thus  that  our  Fathers  of  the  Dark  and  Bloody 
Ground  were  tried ! 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  HUNTERS  OP  KENTUCKY. 
JAMES  HARROD  OF  HARRODSBURQ. 

AFTER  all  the  bombast  of  hero  worshipers,  it  is  astonishing 
how  little  it  takes  to  make  a  real  hero  !  Like  many  of  those 
important  discoveries  in  mechanics,  which  have  revolutionized 
the  world,  the  combinations  are  so  simple,  that  whe  nmen  come 
to  realize  them,  the  general  exclamation  is,  "  Why,  pshaw,  I 
could  have  done  that  myself !"  No  doubt  such  wiseacres 

could  have  done  it  themselves,  but  somehow,  they  didn't  do 

231 


232  WILD   SCENES  AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

it !  and  what  renders  the  parallel  still  more  complete  is,  that 
•when  the  humble  mechanician  has  accomplished  the  work,  has 
chained  an  element  with  a  silken  thread,  he  looks  upon  the 
•mighty  achievement  as  nothing,  and  is  bowed  down  with 
shame  that  men  should  so  wonder  at  a  thing  so  plain. 

Your  true  hero  never  understands  why  men  should  marvel 
that  he  has  only  done  his  duty,  and  the  plaudits  of  the  crowd 
are  to  him  only  a  heart  sickening  commentary  upon  its  own 
unworthiness.  Why  should  they  applaud  him  for  only  acting 
like  a  man  ?  Had  they  expected  him  to  act  like  a  brute,  and 
therefore  been  surprised  into  raptures  ?  Or  was  it  that  they 
were  conscious  that  they  would  have  acted  like  brutes  them- 
selves under  the  same  circumstances  ? 

The  world  may  say  what  it  may  of  the  natural  equality  of 
mankind,  but  there  is  often  more  in  one  large  brain  and  large 
heart  than  in  a  whole  nation.  It  is  not  by  any  means,  learn- 
ing, or  station,  or  honors  that  constitutes  this  greatness ; 
these  are  but  the  tinsel,  the  appliances,  the  outward  show, — 
in  a  word, — 

"The  man's  the  man  for  a'  that;" 

and  it  was  indeed  among  the  early  scenes  of  the  settlement 
of  Kentucky,  that  the  fine  gold  was  separated  and  that  the 
man  stood  forth  in  the  nude  grandeur  of  the  heroic  virtues. 

There  was  nothing  of  the  pomp  and  circumstance  here  of 
adventitious  place,  to  bolster  up  padded  and  pretentious  no- 
bility. State  was  trampled  in  the  bloody  mire  of  struggle, 
and  all  regalia,  but  such  as  nature  had  bestowed,  turned  into 
plough-lines  and  significant  halters 

The  contest  here  was  hand  to  hand,  and  foot  to  foot,  with 
foes  too  stern  and  real  for  a  silken  diplomate  to  soothe.  In 
his  unhoused  wild  condition,  the  strong  man  wrestled  with 
the  panther  for  its  cave,  and  took  its  dappled  hide  for  cover- 
ing. Starched  ruffs  and  white  gloves  would  have  served  ill 
in  such  a  battle.  The  death-hug,  when  the  white  man  and 


JAMES  HAKEOD,  OF  HARRODSBURG.  283 

the  red  man  met,  would  have  poorly  become  the  voluptuous 
court,  and  the  bleak,  wintry  winds  would  scarce  have  put  a 
shirt  on  warm. 

There  was  no  dodging  here,  the  axe  was  first  swung  by 
brawny  arms,  and  then  a  shelter  rose ;  and,  before  no  dainty 
strength  that  fed  on  sylabubs,  would  those  tall  forests  bow, 
that  bread  might  grow '!  No  'shaky  nerve,  or  eye  dulled  in 
the  sickly  glare  of  show,  could  hold  the  heavy  rifle  in  a  vice- 
like  grasp,  and  guide  it  clear  and  sure  as  death's  own  arrow 
flies. 

Here  action  was  eloquence,  with  deeds  for  words,  and  the 
glib  and  oily  art  of  demagogues  learns  no  such  language; 
the  axe  spoke  louder  than  the  honied  phrase ;  and  forests, 
thundering  in  their  fall,  rolled  out  the  grandest  sentences : 
the  rifle  cracked  the  sharpest  jokes,  and  staggering  buffaloes 
roared  bathos  best  upon  the  bloody  plain ! 

One  of  those  men  of  nature,  whose  large  brain  and  large 
heart,  hard  hands  and  giant  thews,  best  fitted  them  to  cope  in 
mastery  with  such  conditions,  was  James  Harrod,  the  founder 
of  Harrodsburg,  Kentucky,  and  one  of  the  noblest  of  the 
early  companions  of  Boone. 

Harrod  was  one  of  those  persons  who  make  their  appear- 
ance in  the  world  much  as  an  oak  tree  comes  into  it :  nobody 
hears  it  grow,  sees  it  grow,  or  knoAvs  that  it  is,  and  has  a 
being  until  suddenly  a  people  look  up  and  find  themselves 
sheltered  beneath  its  boughs,  and  nourished  by  the  nuts  it 
rains  in  benediction  upon  their  heads. 

So  little  was  known  of  the  youth  James  Harrod,  that  the 
histories  of  that  time  do  not  even  name  the  colony  from  whence 
he  came,  nor  even  the  precise  year  in  which  he  emigrated ; 
they  only  know  that  he  came  early  with  Boone,  was  most 
probably  a  Virginian,  went  back  to  that  State  and  returned 
to  Kentucky  in  1774;  joined  Colonel  Lewis  and  his  follow- 
ers on  the  way,  and  was  with  them  in  the  battle  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Kenhawa,  and  that  in  the  next  year  he  settled  himself 


234  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

on  the  site  of  the  present  town  of  Harrodsburg.  This  IB 
about  the  extent  of  the  chronology  bearing  upon  that  early 
period  of  his  history. 

But  for  years  before  this  period  the  name  of  the  stalwart 
young  hunter  was  familiar  along  the  borders,  and  associated 
with  that  of  Boone  in  many  a  feat  of  self-denying  hardihood 
and  generous  chivalry.  He  was  tall,  strong,  modest  and 
simple.  He  had  read  no  book  but  that  of  nature,  knew  no 
art  but  wood-craft,  hated  nothing  on  earth  but  an  Indian  and 
a  pole-cat,  and  never  said,  "Boys,  you  do  it!"  but,  "Boys, 
come  on !"  His  rifle  was  the  longest,  the  heaviest  and  the 
surest ;  his  calm,  frank  eye  was  never  at  a  fault  to  mark  the 
distant  game,  to  meet  the  gaze  of  deadly  foe,  or  smile  back 
truth  to  friend.  His  arm,  resistless,  as  his  tongue  was  slow. 
How  can  you  make  a  hero  out  of  a  block  so  rough  as  this  ? 
We  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  manufacture,  God  made  him 
a  hero,  if  he  was  one  ! 

The  unwritten  history  of  that  time  tells  many  a  touching 
narrative  of  the  deeds  of  this  young  hunter ;  his  skill  on  the 
war-trail,  his  vigilance  and  his  wonderful  powers  of  endurance, 
soon  made  him  one  of  the  chief  supports  of  the  feeble  and  shat- 
tered settlements,  which  then,  in  the  name  of  God  and  civi- 
lization, dared  presume  to  hold  and  occupy  this  wide  land, 
which  for  its  richness  and  its  beauty  had  for  many  centuries 
been  the  golden  apple  of  dispute  between  powerful  tribes  of 
savages,  on  the  North  and  the  South.  The  hardiness  and 
simplicity  of  his  habits,  his  fresh  and  unbroken  constitution, 
his  great  frame,  endowed  with  a  natural  strength  remarkable, 
everywhere  gave  him  supremacy  even  over  those  border  sons 
of  Anak,  among  whom  he  seemed  to  move  as  peer. 

Such  were  his  habits  of  incessant  activity,  and  so  cool  his 
self-reliance,  that  he  never  waited  for  companions,  on  the 
longest  and  most  dangerous  of  his  expeditions.  He  would  often 
be  gone  for  weeks,  and  even  months  together,  no  one  knew 
thither,  or  for  what  end, 'and  the  first  thing  heard  of  him 


JAMES  HARROD,  OF  HARRODSBURG.        235 

would  be  his  sudden  appearance,  to  put  the  settlements  on 
their  guard  against  the  approach  of  some  Indian  war-party. 
During  these  long  absences  his  industry  was  untiring  ;  all  the 
game  that  he  could  kill  was  cured  and  stored,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  Indians,  beyond  the  reach  of  wild  beasts,  or  even 
of  the  sagacity  of  his  teachers.  To  these  stores  he  cotild 
resort  at  any  time  of  scarcity,  for  supplies  for  the  block- 
houses. 

His  knowledge  of  Indian  life,  and  confidence,  was  such  that 
he  frequently  continued  to  hunt  alone,  when  he  knew  well, 
by  the  signs  around  him,  that  Indians  were  hunting  on  the 
same  ground.  The  proud  hunter  would  not  give  way,  but 
took  the  chances  with  his  red  foe. 

On  one  such  occasion  he  had  perceived  several  fine  deer, 
grouped,  feeding,  in  a  small  open  glade  in  the  forest,  near 
the  Kentucky  river.  He  had  approached  them  with  much 
precaution,  for  a  shot,  and  having  gained  the  desired  point, 
was  kneeling  behind  a  tree,  and  in  the  act  of  raising  his  rifle 
to  take  aim,  when  the  buck  of  the  herd  lifted  its  head  sud- 
denly, and  uttered  the  peculiar  shrill  whistle  which  indicates 
that  they  have  either  seen  or  smelt  danger. 

Harrod  was  too  prompt  a  woodsman  not  to  perceive  in- 
stantly, from  the  direction  in  which  the  deer  turned  its 
head,  that  there  was  another  foe  present  than  himself.  He 
remained  motionless,  holding  his  breath,  when,  at  the  sharp 
crack  of  a  rifle  from  the  opposite  side  of  the  glade,  the  startled 
buck  sprang  into  the  air  and  fell  dead. 

The  report  of  Harrod's  rifle  followed  so  instantly  that  it 
seemed  a  mere  prolongation  of  the  first  sound ;  a  nobler 
quarry  bit  the  dust,  the  ball  of  the  back-woodsman  met  the 
proud  heart  of  a  Shawanee  chief,  who  had  leaned  forward 
from  his  covert  to  fire.  Harrod  had  known  for  several  days 
that  there  was  a  hunting-party  of  Shawanees  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. 

At  another  time  his  own  wary  game  was  nearly  played 


236  WILD   SCENES   AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

successfully  upon  himself.  He  was  on -a  great  buffalo  trail, 
leading  to  the  Blue  Licks.  He  had  been  hunting  for  several 
days  with  great  success,  and  this  time  had  seen  no  Indian 
sign,  and  was  not  aware  that  any  had  come  down.  He  had 
wounded  a  large  bull  that  had  left  the  herd,  and  stood  at  bay 
several  miles  distant,  in  a  thick  wood ;  Harrod  was  obliged 
to  approach  it  with  great  precaution,  for  the  animal  was 
now  very  dangerous,  as  is  always  the  case  when  it  is  badly 
wounded. 

He  had  gained  his  position,  and  when  in  the  very  act  of 
firing,  caught  glimpse  of  a  warrior  taking  aim  at  him  from 
behind  a  tree.  He  fired,  for  it  was  too  late  to  help  that,  but 
in  the  same  instant  dropped  as  if  killed.  The  warrior  fired, 
of  course,  and  his  ball  made  a  hole  through  the  wolf-skin  cap 
of  Harrod  as  he  fell.  He  laid  perfectly  still,  while  the  Indian, 
after  stopping  to  load  his  rifle,  as  they  always  do  before,  leaving 
cover,  now  approached  him  to  get  his  scalp,  but  did  so  with 
characteristic  wariness,  leaping  from  tree  to  tree ;  he  came 
near,  and  seeing  that  the  body  lay  perfectly  still,  sprang  for- 
ward, scalping-knife  in  hand,  but  as  he  stooped  to  grasp  the 
scalp-lock,  quick  as  lightning  the  long  and  powerful  arms  of 
Harrod  were  clasped  about  his  neck,  and  with  the  sudden 
throe  of  a  \\aking  panther,  the  warrior  was  crushed  in  hig 
herculean  hug,  and  writhed  helpless  on  the  ground  beneath 
him. 

There  is  yet  another  anecdote  of  his  individual  prowess, 
with  something  of  the  same  character  as  those  given  above, 
which,  although  a  household  story  in  Kentucky,  is  not  so 
well  known  elsewhere. 

The  Shawances  had  made  several  attacks  upon  Boone's 
station,  against  which  settlement  they  had  always  expressed 
the  bitterest  animosity,  on  account,  no  doubt,  of  its  having 
been  the  first  white  settlement  held  in  the  country.  Boone 
was  absent  at  the  Licks,  with  a  great  part  of  the  men  of  the 
station,  making  salt ;  the  prowling  parties  of  Indians  had 


JAMES  HARROD,  OF  HARRODSBURG.         237 

killed  their  cattle,  driven  in  their  hunting-parties,  and  so 
shortened  their  supplies  of  meat,  that  the  little  garrison  wag 
reduced  to  great  straits. 

At  this  juncture  Harrod  made  his  appearance  unexpectedly, 
on  his  return  from  one  of  his  long  expeditions.  Finding  the 
condition  of  things,  he  first  proposed  to  some  of  the  remain- 
ing men,  that  they  should  accompany  him  to  one  of  the  nearest 
of  his  depots  of  meat.  The  risk  was  very  great ;  and  Harrod 
perceiving  from  the  hesitation,  that  the  men  were  not  willing 
to  go,  left  the  station  that  night  alone,  telling  the  women  to 
be  of  good  cheer,  that  he  would  bring  them  back  meat. 

He  found  game  very  shy  in  the  morning,  and  as  there  was 
plenty  of  Indian  sign  about,  he  determined  to  have  the  first 
meat  he  could  get,  and  return  with  it  as  soon  as  possible 
to  the  relief  of  the  station.  He  came  in  sight  of  a  small 
herd  of  deer,  which  were  moving  as  if  they  had  been  lately 
startled,  and  were  still  on  the  look  out ;  this  caused  him  to 
use  great  circumspection.  It  was  not  long  before  he  came 
across  signs,  which  induced  him  to  think  that  there  were 
several  Indians  close  at  hand.  The  daring  hunter  cared 
nothing  for  the  odds,  but  coolly  resolved  to  have  one  of  those 
deer  or  lose  a  scalp,  and  of  the  latter  there  surely  seemed  to 
be  a  great  likelihood. 

This  would  have  been  foolhardiness  with  any  other  man, 
but  with  Harrod  it  was  entirely  a  matter  of  course.  He  had 
never  turned  aside  from  his  path  for  the  red  man,  nor  did  he 
ever  intend  to  do  so.  He  claimed  those  hunting-grounds, 
too,  and  these  deer  were  his,  if  he  could  win  them,  and  hia 
he  intended  they  should  be. 

His  circumspection  was  not  a  little  increased  on  perceiving 
the  marks  of  the  mocassin  on  the  trail  of  the  deer.  These 
were  before  him,  and  he  might  come  upon  them  at  any 
moment.  This  did  not  deter  him,  for  he  saw  at  a  glance  his 
advantage,  as  he  was  on  the  look-out  for  them,  while  they 
were  on  the  look-out  for  the  deer,  and,  evidently  from  the 


238  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

carelessness  of  the  sign  they  left,  entirely  unconscious  of  hi3 
proximity.  He  had  followed  on  in  this  manner  for  several 
miles,  taking  care  to  expose  his  body  as  little  as  possible,  and 
indeed,  advancing  from  tree  to  tree  all  the  time,  as  if  in  a 
bush  fight. 

The  sudden  whistle  of  a  deer,  followed  instantly  by  the 
ring  of  two  rifles  close  on  his  left,  gave  him  warning  that  the 
time  for  business  had  come.  The  Indians  kept  close,  and  as 
he  was  peeping  cautiously  round  a  tree,  endeavoring  to  get  a 
sight  of  them,  a  rifle  ball  from  the  right  whizzed  through  the 
heavy  mass  of  black  hair  that  fell  down  over  his  shoulders, 
stinging  his  neck  sharply  as  it  grazed  past.  He  crouched 
instantly,  and  all  was  as  still  as  death  for  a  long  time,  for 
the  two  on  the  left  had  taken  the  hint,  and  lay  close,  while 
the  Indian  on  the  right  did  the  same,  while  he  reloaded  and 
watched  for  another  chance. 

Here  was  a  fix  certainly  for  any  common  man,  beleaguered 
on  two  sides,  and  it  might  be  on  every  side  for  all  he  could 
tell.  But  from  what  is  known  of  Harrod's  character,  I  have 
no  doubt  he  enjoyed  the  fix ;  for  it  was  just  such  a  one  as 
he  delighted  to  get  himself  into,  for  the  pleasure  of  getting 
himself  out  again. 

The  foot  of  the  tree  at  which  he  crouched  was  surrounded 
by  bushes  or  shrubs  about  three  feet  high,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  lift  his  head  above  these  before  he  could  fire.  He  wore 
his  famous  wolf-skin  cap,  as  usual ;  and  after  waiting  till  he 
was  convinced  that  there  was  no  chance  of  getting  a  sight  of 
the  cautious  foe,  he  placed  it  upon  the  muzzle  of  his  rifle, 
and,  after  some  prefatory  manoeuvring  among  the  shrubs,  to 
show  that  he  was  getting  restless,  gradually  and  cautiously 
elevated  the  cap. 

The  ring  of  the  three  rifles  was  almost  simultaneous,  as  it 
rose  a  little  above  the  bushes,  and  before  the  echoes  had  died 
away,  the  death-shriek  of  the  warrior  on  the  right  followed 
theru  into  the  shadows.  Ilarrod  lay  still  for  a  long  time 


JAMES   HARROD,    OF   HARRODSBURG.  230 

again  before  he  concluded  to  try  the  manoeuvre  over ;  the  cap 
was  cautiously  elevated  again,  and  this  time  drew  but  one 
fire,  for  the  Indians  had  taken  warning.  It  effected  all  that 
Harrod  required,  however,  for  it  disclosed  the  exact  position 
of  these  two.  He  had  only  known  the  direction  before,  but 
not  the  position,  as  his  eyes  had  been  occupied  in  watching 
the  one  on  the  right — in  less  than  half  a  minute,  the  Indian 
who  had  fired,  exposed  part  of  his  body  in  sending  home  his 
rod.  Harrod  shot  him  through  the  heart. 

The  other  Indian  commenced  a  rapid  retreat.  He  got  off, 
but  Harrod  thought  he  carried  a  third  ball  with  him.  They 
had  been  entirely  deceived  by  the  manoeuvre  of  the  cap,  and 
the  survivor  was  clearly  of  the  opinion,  that,  as  they  had  killed 
two,  there  must  be  several  white  men  there  yet.  Harrod  pro- 
ceeded at  his  leisure  to  dress  the  two  deer  they  had  brought 
down,  and  that  night  entered  the  station,  to  the  great  joy  of 
all,  with  a  full  load  of  meat. 

The  benevolence  of  Harrod  seems  to  have  been  equal  to 
his  energy.  His  hut,  one  of  the  first  erected  in  the  country, 
became  at  once  the  nucleus  of  a  station — thither  the  sur- 
veyors, the  speculators,  the  hunters  and  emigrants  flocked 
for  shelter  and  protection,  and  the  names  of  Harrodsburg  and 
Boonesborough  became  the  first  identified  in  the  minds  of 
weary  adventurers  of  every  grade,  to  this  dangerous  region, 
with  the  prospect  of  rest  and  the  hope  of  security.  Other 
huts  had  rapidly  gone  up  around  his,  until  more  secure  de- 
fences had  become  necessary,  and  a  fort  was  built. 

Thus,  under  the  shelter  of  these  two  names,  Boone  and 
Harrod,  the  permanent  occupation  of  Kentucky  by  the  white 
race  commenced. 

These  men,  though  both  comparatively  young,  seem  to 
have  reproduced  in  themselves  perfectly  the  primitive  type 
of  the  ancient  patriarchal  character,  which  was  so  much 
needed  in  the  elementary  condition  of  the  society  they  w?ve 
organizing.  All  new  comers  were  their  children — they  W.TC 


240  WILD   SCENES  AND  WILD  HUNTERS. 

received  as  such  with  open  arms,  they  were  watched  over, 
guarded  and  guided,  until  they  learned  to  stand  alone  and 
take  care  of  themselves,  and,  what  was  still  more  remarkable, 
were  allowed,  without  a  murmur  or  a  thought,  to  avail  them- 
selves of  nearly  all  of  the  extraordinary  labors  and  sufferings 
of  their  noble  and  unselfish  guardians. 

For  example,  Boone,  who  might,  as  I  mentioned  before, 
have  been  the  richest  man  in  the  whole  West,  had  he  been  as 
grasping  as  he  was  good  and  wise,  entered  no  land,  and  died 
in  wandering  poverty,  with  no  claim  to  one  spot  in  that  para- 
dise into  which  he  had  led  his  countrymen.  Harrod  exhibited 
the  same  unselfish  traits,  as  we  shall  see. 

When  a  new  settler  came,  he  inquired  for  a  locality ;  Har- 
rod's  knowledge  of  the  surrounding  country  was  at  his  ser- 
vice ;  he  shouldered  his  axe,  and  helped  the  new  comer  run 
up  a  hut — the  family  out  of  meat,  Harrod,  by  some  necro- 
mancy peculiar  to  himself,  had  found  it  out.  He  was  off  to  the 
•woods,  and  soon  a  fine  deer,  or  fat  bear,  or  quarters  of  a 
buffalo,  was  placed  at  their  disposal.  Their  horses  had 
Btrayed  in  the  range,  with  which  the  husband  was  not  yet 
familiar,  and  no  ploughing  could  be  done — Harrod's  incessant 
activity  has  made  the  discovery  in  passing,  that  something 
was  wrong  in  the  new  clearing — his  frank  and  manly  voice  is 
heard  shouting  from  the  fence,  "  Hilloa,  Jones  !  What's  the 
matter  ?  No  ploughing  done  yet,  I  see  !  Nothin'  wrong,  I 
hope?" 

"  Well,  yes ! — the  old  horse  been  gone  these  five  days — 
can't  find  him  down  thar  in  that  cane-brake  range — been  lost 
myself  already  two  whole  days  in  looking  for  him,  and  I've 
jest  about  gin  it  up." 

"Never  mind,  Jones,  you'll  get  used  to  that  range  some- 
time before  long — that  horse  of  your'n  is  a  blood-bay,  aint 
he  ?" 

"  Yes — snip  down  the  nose,  and  left  hind  foot  white — collar 
marked  bad  on  the  shoulders." 


JAMES  HARROD,  OF  HARRODSBURO.         241 

"  Good  morning,  Jones  !" 

A  few  hours  afterwards,  Jones'  horse,  with  his  snip  on  his 
nose,  is  quietly  driven  up  to  the  fence  and  turned  in — James 
Harrod  walks  on. 

News  comes  into  the  station  that  the  Indians  have  attacked 
the  house  of  a  settler,  five  miles  distant,  and  murdered  all  the 
family  but  the  two  daughters,  whom  they  are  hurrying  off  to 
a  brutal  and  perilous  captivity — the  war-cry  of  Harrod  is 
instantly  heard. 

"  Come,  boys  !  come,  boys  !  we  must  catch  those  rascals — 
we  can't  spare  our  girls  !" 

While  his  dark  complexion  glows  with  enthusiasm,  and  his 
black  eye  flames  again — the  men  know  their  leader,  for  he  is 
off  without  them  in  a  moment,  and  they  are  soon  ready. 

The  swift  and  tireless  pursuit,  the  wary  approach  to  the 
camp,  the  night  attack,  with  its  short,  fierce  struggle,  the 
rescue,  the  return,  were  all  the  not  unusual  incidents  of  their 
wild  life. 

In  the  capacity  of  spy,  guide  or  ranger  captain,  his  excur- 
sions into  the  Indian  country  were  very  daring  and  frequent. 
There  was  no  enterprise  too  audacious  for  his  enthusiasm, 
none  requiring  patience,  dexterity,  endurance  of  hunger, 
thirst  and  fatigue,  too  serious  for  his  cool  self-reliance  to 
undertake,  and  that  most  frequently  alone.  He  avoided, 
when  possible,  having  other  men  with  him,  for,  he  said,  they 
always  complained  of  the  hardships  or  the  dangers  before  the 
fun  was  fairly  commenced  with  him,  and  therefore  it  cost  him 
more  trouble  to  take  care  of  them,  than  to  do  all  there  was 
to  be  done  himself,  twice  over.  This  extraordinary  love  of 
solitary  adventure  was  one  of  the  marked  characteristics 
of  James  Harrod.  Indeed,  the  Indians  christened  him  the 
"Lone  Long-Knife,"  and  dreaded  his  mysterious  prowess 
very  greatly. 

He  on  several  occasions  entered  their  villages  in  the  night 
to  ascertain  their  plans;  and  once,  when  discovered  by  a 

16 


242  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

young  warrior,  struck  him  to  the  earth  with  his  huge  fist, 
and  then  threw  himself  into  the  neighboring  forest,  not 
though  without  being  seen  and  pursued;  twenty  or  thirty 
warriors  followed  him,  and  so  close  were  they  upon  his  heels 
at  the  start,  that  their  rifle  balls  showered  like  hail  about 
him. 

The  swiftness  of  Indian  runners  has  passed  into  a  proverb, 
but  they  had  a  man  before  them  more  swift  and  tireless  than 
they.  lie  gained  so  much  upon  them  that  by  the  time  they 
reached  the  Miami,  which  was  ten  miles  distant,  there  were 
only  three  warriors  who  seemed  to  be  continuing  the  chase. 

Harrod  swam  the  river  without  hesitation ;  as  he  reached 
the  opposite  bank  they  came  up,  and  fired  at  him  as  he  climbed 
the  bank ;  the  river  was  wide  here,  and  the  balls  fell  short. 
He  now  took  a  tree  upon  the  edge  of  the  forest,  and  removing 
the  water-proof  cover  of  deer's  bladder  from  the  lock  of  his 
rifle,  prepared  for  them,  should  they  attempt  to  cross  the 
river.  The  Indians  hesitated  a  moment,  for  it  had  now  been 
some  time  full  daylight,  and  they  seemed  to  have  some  appre- 
hension that  he  might  make  a  stand,  but  hearing  at  this  in- 
stant the  coming  yells  of  those  who  had  fallen  behind,  they 
replied,  and  plunged  into  the  stream. 

Ilarrod  waited  until  they  were  more  than  half  across,  when 
at  the  crack  of  his  rifle,  the  foremost  sank ;  the  other  two 
paused,  then  turned  to  go  back,  but  before  they  could  get  out 
of  range,  he  wounded  a  second  desperately,  who  gave  himself 
up  to  the  current  and  was  swept  down.  The  third,  by  a 
series  of  rapid  dives,  like  the  manoeuvres  of  a  wounded  wild 
duck,  succeeded  in  baffling  the  aim  of  Ilarrod,  even,  and  got 
out  of  range. 

Ilarrod  heard  the  furious  howl  of  the  main  body  of  his  out- 
witted pursuers,  who  had  reached  the  river  as  he  was  making 
off  again  through  the  forest;  the  chase  was  not  continued 
further. 

What  adds  not  a  little  to  the  dramatic  interest  of  this  ad- 


JAMES  HARROD,  OF  HARRODSBURG.        243 

venture,  is,  that  when,  two  hours  afterward,  Harrod  struck 
the  bank  of  the  Miami  again,  he  saw  upon  a  pile  of  drift 
wood,  which  had  collected  at  the  mouth  of  one  of  the  small 
tributaries  of  the  stream,  some  living  object,  which  he  took 
for  a  large  turtle  glistening  in  the  sun,  as  he  struggled  to 
drag  his  unwieldy  body  upon  the  logs  to  bask. 

He  stopped  to  gaze ;  and  imagine  his  astonishment,  when 
he  saw  a  tall  Indian  drag  his  body  slowly  from  the  water,  and 
finally  seat  himself  upon  the  logs.  He  had  lost  his  gun,  and 
commenced  endeavoring  to  stifle  the  bleeding  from  a  bullet 
wound  in  his  shoulder.  Harrod  knew  that  it  was  the  second 
Indian  he  had  shot,  and  who  had  most  probably  reached  one  of 
the  pieces  of  drift  wood  of  which  the  swollen  river  was  at  pre- 
sent full,  and  sustained  himself  by  it  all  this  distance,  badly 
wounded  as  he  was. 

Here  was  a  trial  for  such  a  man  as  Harrod ;  his  foe  was 
wounded  and  helpless ;  take  him  prisoner  he  feared  would  be 
impossible,  and  letting  him  escape  he  felt  to  be  contrary  to 
his  duty  to  his  own  people.  He  thought  within  himself  some 
little  time  before  deciding  upon  his  course,  for  shoot  the  poor 
wretch  he  could  not. 

His  determination  formed,  he  made  a  wide  circuit,  and 
crept  cautiously  upon  the  wounded  warrior  from  behind ;  a 
large  tree  stood  close  to  the  drift,  which  being  gained,  Harrod 
laid  down  his  gun,  then  suddenly  stepping  into  full  view  from 
behind  the  tree,  raised  his  hands  to  show  that  he  was  un- 
armed. 

"  Uguh  !"  grunted  the  astonished  warrior,  making  a  sudden 
movement  as  if  to  plunge  into  the  water  again.  Harrod  placed 
his  Band  upon  his  heart,  spoke  two  words  in  the  Shawanee 
tongue,  when  the  Indian  paused,  and  looking  at  him  a  moment 
earnestly,  bowed  his  head  in  token  of  submission.  Harrod 
helped  him  to  the  bank,  tore  his  own  shirt  and  bound  up  the 
wound  with  cooling  herbs ;  and  then,  as  he  found  the  savage 
unable  to  walk,  threw  him  across  his  broad  shoulders,  and  bore 


244  WILD    SCENES   AND    WILD    HUNTERS. 

him,  not  to  the  station,  but  to  a  cave  which  he  used  aJ 
one  of  his  places  of  deposit.  No  one  knew  of  the  existence 
cf  this  hiding-place  but  himself,  and  he  had  discovered  it  by 
the  accident  of  having  driven  a  wounded  bear  into  it. 

The  entrance  was  very  small  and  covered  with  briars ; 
pushing  these  aside,  you  looked  down  into  what  seemed  a 
dee.p  well ;  when  the  eye  became  accustomed  to  the  darkness, 
you  could  gradually  discover  a  dry,  white  bottom.  Harrod 
had  descended  into  it  by  means  of  a  pole  ladder  which  he  had 
let  down ;  this  ladder,  which  is  essentially  a  frontier  con- 
trivance, consists  merely  of  a  stout  sapling,  which  is  thick 
set  with  limbs;  the  sapling  being  cut  down,  the  limbs  ars 
chopped  off  within  six  inches  from  the  trunk,  thus  leaving 
excellent  foothold  to  climb  by. 

When  you  reached  the  bottom,  which  was  about  twelve  feet 
below  the  surface,  you  found  yourself  in  a  small,  but  irregularly 
shaped  room,  the  ceiling  of  which  was  hung  with  many  beau- 
tiful and  fantastic  stalactites,  from  among  which,  and  at  the 
farther  extremity  of  the  room,  a  small,  clear  stream,  poured 
steadily  down  into  a  white,  round  basin,  which  it  had  worn 
into  the  solid  limestone. 

The  little  stream,  after  passing  across  the  length  of  the 
chamber,  found  vent  through  a  dark  hole  in  the  wall,  about 
large  enough  to  admit  a  man,  crawling  in  on  his  hands  and 
knees.  Here,  over  the  whitest  sand,  it  escaped  into  unknown 
caverns  beyond.  From  the  point  of  every  stalactite  on  the 
ceiling  a  drop  of  water  fell  slowly  upon  stalactites  rising  to 
meet  them,  many  of  which  had  assumed  the  most  extraordi- 
nary shapes.  About  twelve  feet  square  of  the  ceiling  and 
floor  of  this  singular  subterranean  chamber  was  as  dry  as 
tinder. 

I  am  thus  particular  in  describing  this  cave,  having  once- 
visited  it,  and  been  singularly  impressed  with  the  quaint 
peculiarities  of  the  place.  Among  other  tilings,  the  steady 
dropping  of  the  water  upon  the  white  and  ringing  stalactites, 


JAMES  HARROD,  OF  HARRODSBURG.        245 

formed  a  sort  of  low  harmonicon,  the  sweetness  of  which.  I 
shall  never  forget. 

In  this  strange  hiding-place,  as  the  story  goes,  Harrod  con- 
cealed his  wounded  foe,  for  the  generous  hunter  having  once 
determined  to  aid  him,  possessed  too  much  magnanimity  to 
subject  the  proud  warrior  to  the  humiliation  worse  to  him 
than  death,  of  being  paraded  before  his  white  foes  as  a 
prisoner.  Harrod  took  care  of  him  till  his  recovery,  visiting 
him  regularly  on  his  hunting  excursions.  When  the  warrior 
grew  strong  again,  Harrod  gave  him  a  supply  of  provisions, 
and  pointing  towards  the  North,  bade  him  return  to  his  peo- 
ple, and  tell  them  how  the  "Long-Knife"  treats  his  wouiided 
foe. 

Nothing  was  ever  heard  directly  from  this  warrior  again, 
though  Boone,  who  was  aware  of  the  circumstance,  and  who 
was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Shawanees  a  short  time  afterwards, 
always  attributed  the  kind  treatment  he  received  from  the 
Indians,  and  their  good  faith  to  eighteen  of  his  men,  to  the 
good  offices  of  this  grateful  savage.  These  men  were  engaged, 
under  his  command,  in  making  salt  at  the  saline  springs,  and 
surrendered  at  his  own  suggestion,  he  having  been  surprised  and 
taken  prisoner  while  hunting,  and  the  promise  of  kind  treat- 
ment and  release  having  been  pledged  to  him  by  the  Indians. 
They,  after  taking  their  arms,  ammunition,  &c.,  permitted  the 
men  to  return  to  the  station  unharmed.  They  took  Boone 
with  them,  however,  to  Canada,  where  he  was  shortly  ran- 
somed. 

The  popularity  of  Harrod  became  very  great ;  for  these 
many  extraordinary  feats  and  kind  acts  were  not  his  only 
claims  on  the  now  rapidly  increasing  population  of  Ken- 
tucky, for  their  respect  and  gratitude.  His  manly  wisdom  and 
counsel,  was  fully  equal  to  his  efficiency  in  the  field;  for 
though  to  the  last  he  could  barely  write  his  name,  and  con- 
tinued to  be  a  man  of  few  words, — one  short  sentence  of 
his,  direct,  as  it  always  was,  and  to  the  purpose,  was  of 


246  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

greater  value  in  those  times  than  all  a  mouthing  demagogue 
could  utter  in  a  year. 

He  was  elected  Colonel,  married  happily,  a  genuine  Ken- 
tucky girl,  and  was  universally  venerated  and  idolized,  though 
yet  scarcely  past  his  prime.  His  modesty  was  unconquera- 
ble, and  he  shrunk  from  all  honors  which  he  could  possibly 
avoid. 

Strange  to  say,  not  even  the  endearments  of  his  happy 
home,  the  love  of  his  fellow  citizens,  or  the  charms  of  a  society 
daily  increasing  in  refinement,  could  win  him  from  that  sin- 
gular passion  for  solitary  hunting, — which  seems  to  be  general 
and'  peculiar  to  the  Hunter-Naturalist,  in  whatever  guise  he 
may  be  found — for  which  Harrod  was  so  remarkable.  He 
would  still,  rifle  in  hand,  bury  himself  for  weeks,  and  even 
months,  in  some  unpenetrated  fastness  of  the  wilderness,  from 
whence  he  would  return  as  unexpectedly  as  he  went,  laden 
with  the  trophies  of  the  hunt. 

Once  he  thus  disappeared,  never  to  return !  By  what 
casuality  of  the  chase,  or  in  what  deadly  contest  with  his 
Indian  foes,  no  one  could  ever  more  than  conjecture. 

Thus  died  a  true  hero  ! — as  he  would  no  doubt  have  chosen 
best  to  die, — amidst  those  wild,  stern  scenes  he  had  so  dearly 
loved,  and  in  fair  battle  with  the  chances  that  he  gloried  most 
in  daring.  Face  to  face,  with  God,  the  ancient  nature  and 
his  foe,  his  noble  heart  was  stilled,  and  his  strong  arm  fell 
nerveless ! 

The  wintry  winds  have  moaned  through  stately  mausole- 
ums, indeed,  but  never  yet  wailed  they  a  grander  requiem, 
above  a  nobler  grave,  than  that  wild  spot  of  rocks  and  forest 
where  James  Ilarrod  lies !  He  left,  I  believe,  one  daughter ; 
and  a  large  and  respectable  family,  descended  from  her,  still 
lire  in  Harrodsburg  and  the  neighborhood. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   FOX — AND   FOX   HUNTING  IN  AMERICA. 

REYNARD  is  a  famous  fellow,  to  be  sure ! — it  behooves  me 
to  be  somewhat  careful  in  making  my  approaches  to  a  person 
of  such  world-wide  celebrity. 

He  is  eminently  an  historical  character,  and  one  not  lightly 
to  be  dealt  with,  even  from  behind  the  ponderous  shield  of 
science.  His  fame  has  been  recounted,  not  alone  in  the  sober 
"chronicles  of  wasted  time,"  but  legend  and  romance  have 
given  their  voices  to  commemorate  his  deeds,  and  poets  have 
sung  of  them  in  high  heroic  strains.  Witness  that  renowned 
and  venerable  epic  of  the  nursery,  "Reynard  the  Fox,"  for 
':what  their  antique  pens  would  have  expressed  !" 

But  it  must  be  confessed  that  your  philosopher  is  a  pro- 
digious leveller.  No  antiquity  is  so  remote  that  he  will  not 
brush  off  the  green  rime  of  ages,  to  count  the  wrinkles  on  its 
front ;  no  fame  so  awful  or  overshadowing,  that  he  will  not, 
with  familiar  hands,  stroke  "  the  mane  of  darkness  till  it 
smiles,"  and  renders  up  the  secrets  of  its  glory. 

It  is  only  from  this  point  of  view  that  we  account  for  un- 
conscious and  remarkable  coolness,  with  which  astute  Natu- 
ralists have  seized  Master  Reynard  by  the  nape  of  the  neck, 
to  drag  him  forth  from  beneath  the  misty  obscurations  of 
time,  and  hold  him  in  the  common  light  of  day  before  the 
eyes  of  the  astonished  world.  Seeing  that  they  have  done 
80,  in  spite  of  all  savage  growlings  of  his  outraged  histori- 
cal dignity,  even  I  can  take  courage,  though  with  humility, 
to  give  him  now  an  additional  shake.  I  shall  accordingly 
proceed  to  "beat  out  his  fur,"  mathematically,  so  long  as  I 
248 


FOX   HUNTING   IN   AMERICA.  249 

can  hold  a  sober  face  in  dealing  "with  a  proverbially  slippery 
and  facetious  customer. 

There  are  about  twelve  well  known  species  belonging  to 
this  genera,  four  of  which  are  native  to  North  America. 
There  are  many  disputes  among  Naturalists  with  regard  to 
the  varieties  of  this  animal.  Instead  of  twelve,  the  number 
of  species  has  been  extended  to  sixteen.  Mr.  Audubon,  iu 
his  new  work,  the  Quadrupeds  of  America,  has  discovered 
that  many  of  those  animals  which  have  been  named  and  set 
down  as  distinct  species,  are  only  varieties.  As  for  instance, 
the  Cross  Fox,  the  Black  or  Silver  Fox,  and  the  Red  Fox, 
have  each  been  classed  as  a  separate  species  heretofore ;  but 
he  has  shown,  I  think,  conclusively,  that  the  two  first  are 
mere  varieties  of  the  last. 

He  found  all  three  together  in  one  litter.  This  fact  in 
itself,  is  very  strong  proof  that  he  is  right,  for  the  Gray  Fox 
is  never  known  to  breed  with  either  of  these  varieties ;  and 
the  same  is  true  of  the  Swift  Fox  and  the  Arctic  Fox.  This 
is  somewhat  singular,  for  the  Red  Fox  is  well  ascertained  to 
breed  with  the  wolf  and  dog ;  while  a  mortal  antipathy  is 
thought  to  exist  between  it  and  the  Gray  Fox ;  so  great, 
indeed,  as  to  give  rise  to  a  common  opinion,  that  the-  Gray 
Fox  is  exterminated  by  the  Red  wherever  it  makes  its  appear- 
ance. 

Furthermore,  the  celebrated  Dr.  Richardson  adheres  to 
the  same  opinion,  in  common  with  the  Indians,  hunters  and 
trappers,  who  have  a  saying,  with  regard  to  the  Rod  Fox, 
"This  is  not  a  Cross  Fox  yet,  but  it  is  becoming  so  !"  The 
European  Fox  is  subject  to  similar  varieties,  and  the  Canis 
crucigera  of  Gessen,  differs  from  it  in  the  same  way  that  our 
Cross  Fox  does  from  the  Red  one.  On  the  whole  then,  I 
regard  it  as  a  safe  conclusion,  that  the  Red  and  Gray  Foxes 
are  the  only  distinct  species  we  have  within  the  present  limits 
of  the  States. 

The  slight  variations  of  pelage,  which  have  given  rise  to  the 


250  WILD   SCENES  AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

belief  of  the  existence  of  so  many  species,  are  not  at  all 
extraordinary  or  peculiar ;  and,  indeed,  this  is  the  com- 
mon cause  of  a  vast  and  unnecessary  accession  of  species, 
•which  so  complicates  and  involves  the  whole  history  of  quad- 
rupeds. Where  such  differences  are  not  owning  to  age  or 
sex,  they  are  frequently  to  the  accidents  of  disease,  locality, 
climate,  &c.  I  once  saw  three  cubs  taken  from  the  bed  of  a 
Gray  Fox,  two  of  which  were  white  as  milk,  and  the  other 
gray.  It  would  have  been  very  wise  of  me  to  have  announced 
the  discovery  of  a  new  species  on  the  strength  of  these 
Albinoes ! 

There  is  a  curious  and  interesting  case  in  point,  given  from 
the  personal  experience  of  Dr.  Bachman,  the  editorial  asso- 
ciate of  Mr.  Audubon  in  the  "  Quadrupeds."  After  pre- 
mising that  the  swiftness  of  the  animal  has  most  probably 
been  greatly  exaggerated,  he  says : — 

In  regard  to  the  cunning  of  this  variety,  there  may  be 
some  truth  in  the  general  opinion,  but  this  can  be  accounted 
for  on  natural  principles ;  the  skin  is  considered  very  valuable, 
and  the  animal  is  always  regarded  as  a  curiosity  ;  hence  the 
hunters  make  every  endeavor  to  obtain  one  when  seen,  and 
it  would  not  be  surprising  if  a  constant  succession  of  attempts 
to  capture  it,  together  with  the  instinctive  desire  for  self-pre- 
servation possessed  by  all  animals,  should  sharpen  its  wits 
and  render  it  more  cautious  and  wild  than  those  species  that 
are  less  frequently  molested.  "VYe  remember  an  instance  of 
this  kind,  which  we  will  here  relate. 

A  Cross  Fox,  nearly  black,  was  frequently  seen  in  a  par- 
ticular cover.  "We  offered  what  was  in  those  days  considered 
a  high  premium  for  the  animal  in  the  flesh.  The  Fox  was 
accordingly  chased,  and  shot  at  by  the  farmers'  boys  in  the 
neighborhood.  The  autumn  and  winter  passed  away,  nay, 
a  whole  year,  and  still  the  Fox  was  going  at  large.  It  Avas 
at  last  regarded  by  some  of  the  more  credulous,  as  possess- 
ing a  charmed  life,  and  it  was  thought  that  nothing  but  a  silver 


FOX   HUNTING   IN  AMERICA.  251 

ball  could  kill  it.  In  the  spring  we  induced  one  of  our  ser- 
vants to  dig  for  the  young  foxes  that  had  been  seen  at  the 
burrow,  which  was  known  to  be  frequented  by  the  Cross  Fox. 
With  an  immense  deal  of  labor  and  fatigue  the  young  were 
dug  out  from  the  side  of  a  hill ;  there  were  seven.  Unfor- 
tunately we  were  obliged  to  leave  home,  and  did  not  return 
until  after  they  had  been  given  away,  and  were  distributed 
about  the  neighborhood. 

Three  were  said  to  have  been  black,  the  rest  were  red. 
The  blackest  of  the  young  whelps  was  retained  for  us ;  and 
we  frequently  saw  at  the  house  of  a  neighbor  another  of  the 
litter  that  was  red,  and  differed  in  no  respect  from  the  com- 
mon Red  Fox.  The  older  our  little  pet  became,  the  less  it 
grew  like  the  Black,  and  the  more  like  the  Cross  Fox.  It  was, 
very  much  to  our  regret,  killed  by  a  dog  when  about  six 
months  old,  and  as  far  as  we  can  recollect,  was  nearly  of  the 
color. 

The  following  autumn  we  determined  to  try  our  hand  at 
procuring  the  enchanted  fox,  which  was  the  parent  of  these 
young  varieties,  as  it  could  always  be  started  in  the  same 
vicinity.  We  obtained  a  pair  of  fine  fox  hounds,  and  gave 
chase.  The  dogs  were  young,  and  proved  no  match  for  the 
fox,  which  generally  took  a  straight  direction  through  cleared 
fields  for  five  or  six  miles,  after  which  it  began  winding  and 
twisting  among  the  hills,  where  the  hounds  on  two  occasions 
lost  the  scent,  and  returned  home. 

On  a  third  hunt,  we  took  our  stand  near  the  corner  of  an 
old  field,  at  a  spot  we  had  twice  observed  it  to  pass.  It  came 
at  last,  swinging  its  brush  from  side  to  side,  and  running 
with  great  rapidity,  three  quarters  of  a  mile  ahead  of  the 
dogs,  which  were  yet  out  of  hearing.  A  good  aim  removed 
the  mysterious  charm.  We  killed  it  with  squirrel  shot  without 
the  aid  of  a  silver  bullet.  It  was  nearly  jet-black,  with  the 
tip  of  the  tail  white.  This  fox  was  the  female  which  had 
produced  the  young  of  the  previous  spring,  that  we  have  just 


WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

spoken  of;  and  as  some  of  them,  as  we  have  already  said, 
were  Cross  Foxes,  and  others  Red  Foxes,  this  has  settled  tho 
question  in  our  minds  that  both  the  Cross  Fox  and  the  Black 
Fox  are  mere  varieties  of  the  Red. 

Here  I  will  dismiss  this  question,  premising  the  conviction 
confirmed  out  of  my  own  experience  by  the  facts  given  above, 
that  the  three  varieties,  the  Black,  Cross  and  Red  Foxes,  will 
be  found  to  be  about  as  nearly  identical  as  three  specimens 
of  the  common  American  Skunk,  taken  from  the  same  bed, 
one  of  which  will  be  banded,  another  barred,  and  another 
mottled. 

But  the  Editors  of  the  Quadrupeds  of  America,  have  been, 
after  some  hesitation,  bold  enough  to  go  with  Cuvier  in  a  most 
decided  innovation  upon  the  old  formulas  of  classification. 

They  say,  the  characters  of  this  genus  differ  so  slightly 
from  those  of  the  genus  canis,  that  they  were  induced  to  pause 
before  removing  it  from  the  sub-genus  in  which  it  had  so 
long  remained. 

I  do  not  perceive  that  there  was  any  special  reason  for 
doubt  about  the  matter,  for  I  have  always  been  surprised  that 
the  foxes  have  not  been  recognized  by  Naturalists  through  all 
time  as  a  separate  genus.  The  common  sense  of  mankind 
has  always  so  placed  them,  but  it  seems  that  the  common 
sense  of  Naturalists  has  been  something  different. 

Nobody  but  a  tcchnicalist  was  ever  satisfied  with  seeing  the 
fox  ranked  as  a  sub-genus  of  canis.  Apart  from  slight  physi- 
cal coincidents,  it  is  so  distinct  in  habits,  character,  &c.,  that 
we  could  quite  as  readily  be  content  to  see  the  humming-bird 
classed  as  a  moth !  There  is  about  as  much  reason  for  the 
one  as  the  other.  The  truth  seems  to  me  to  be,  that  as  the 
humming-bird,  though  distinct  in  its  own  character,  forms 
the  connecting  link  between  insects  and  birds,  so  docs  the 
fox  that  between  the  genera  canis  and  lynx ;  which  last,  it 
will  be  remembered,  was  once,  in  a  like  manner,  classed  as 
a  Feline. 


FOX   HUNTING  IN  AMERICA.  253 

Here  comes  in  a  reflection  which  pertinently  illustrates  the 
ladder-like  ascension  of  scientific  inquiry  towards  truth. 
Before  Linnaeus,  the  methods  of  classification  were  so  vague 
that  nothing  more  definite  could  be  said  of  them,  than  that 
food,  size,  shape  and  color  were  the  principal  rules.  But 
the  great  classifier  made  an  immense  advance  upon  this  loose 
mode,  and  his  terse  definitions  are  perfect,  so  far  as  external 
signs  can  go,  or  an  accurate  knowledge  of  habits  substantiate 
them.  Buffon,  who  repudiated  systems,  only  made  confusion 
worse  confounded ;  and  in  the  fierce  collisions  which  ensued 
between  his  followers  and  their  technicalists,  (who  swore  by 
their  master,  the  great  Swede,)  all  systems  of  classification 
seemed  to  be  in  danger  of  being  swept  overboard. 

Cuvier  at  once  stepped  to  the  helm  and  righted  everything. 
He  brought  along  with  him,  not  alone  the  strong  arm  and  the 
commanding  eye,  which  wield  success,  but  as  well,  a  heavy 
ballast  of  f6ssil  remains,  and  huge  pre-Adamite  bones,  which 
soon  steadied  the  storm-shaken  vessel.  Now,  Naturalists 
were  for  the  first  time  forced  to  realize,  though  unwillingly, 
that  the  only  absolute  and  mathematical  law  of  classification 
in  Zoology,  was  to  be  looked  for  in  the  dental  and  osseous  struc- 
ture. The  old  methods  are  accepted  as  suggestive  adjuncts, 
but  by  no  means  as  absolute  authority. 

In  the  dental  formula  of  the  genus  vulpes,  there  is  only  a 
slight,  but  decisive  difference  from  that  of  the  genus  canis ; 
the  upper  incisor  being  less  curved.  It  was,  however,  suffici- 
ent to  determine  Cuvier.  The  other  marked  traits  of  differ- 
ence are,  that  animals  of  this  genus,  generally,  are  smaller, 
and  the  number  of  species  known,  greater,  than  among  the 
wolves ;  they  diffuse  a  foetid  odor,  dig  burrows,  and  attack 
none  but  the  weaker  quadrupeds,  or  birds,  &c.  Yet,  despite 
their  courage  upon  this  point,  the  venerable  Editors  of  the 
"  Quadrupeds,"  with  characteristic  caution,  persist  in  what 
may  be  called  "hedging  their  position,"  when  they  say: — 

As  a  general  rule,  we  are  obliged  to  admit  that  a  fox  is  a 


£54  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

•wolf,  and  a  small  wolf  may  be  termed  a  fox.  Commend  us 
to  consistency, — say  I ! 

The  genus  vulpes  of  Cuvier  is  now  established, — has  become 
a  fixed  fact  of  science  among  us,  as  it  ought  to  have  been 
considered  long  ago !  The  other  two  species,  beside  the 
Gray  and  Red,  which  go  to  make  up  the  complement  of  four 
assigned  to  North  America,  are  the  Swift  Fox  and  the  Arctic 
Fox. 

The  Swift  Fox  inhabits  the  Missouri  and  Platte  Rivers, 
west  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  is  a  very  extraordinary 
creature.  Although  the  smallest  of  American  foxes,  it  is  by 
far  the  fleetest.  In  traversing  the  wild  region  where  it  is 
native,  I  heard  from  the  hunters  and  trappers  most  marvel- 
ous tales  of  its  swiftness,  some  of  which  placed  it  even  along- 
side the  horse  and  antelope  in  this  respect,  and  far  beyond 
any  other  animal  on  the  plains.  These  stories  are  to  be 
taken  with  considerable  allowance.  I  saw  it  frequently,  but 
had  no  fair  opportunity  of  testing  its  speed  thoroughly — though 
there  is  one  observation  which  I  made,  that  may  be  worth 
giving  in  this  connection. 

The  vast  bare  extent  and  undulating  surface  of  those  plains 
seem  to  have  had  a  somewhat  remarkable  effect  in  developing 
powers  of  flight  and  pursuit,  in  most  of  the  creatures  inhabiting 
them,  and  more  particularly  in  the  smaller  ones  ;  and  there  is 
quite  as  much  of  this  exaggerated  story-telling  to  be  met  with 
upon  the  lips  of  these  same  wandering  hunters  and  trappers, 
with  regard  to  the  great-cared  rabbit  of  the  plains  further 
South.  This  animal  is  represented  by  them  as  a  miracle  of 
speed ;  and  I  am,  from  my  own  observation,  disposed  to  give 
a  large  proportion  of  credit  to  their  representations. 

I  have  witnessed  in  them  such  astonishing  power  of  getting 
over  the  ground,  that  they  almost  seemed  to  defy  pursuit. 
It  was  "  more  like  flying  than  running,"  as  the  hunters  say. 
The  total  absence  upon  these  wild  plains  of  any  of  those 
facilities  for  concealment,  refuge  or  escape,  which  are  afforded 


FOX  HUNTING  IN  AMERICA.  255 

elsewhere,  by  trees,  shrubs,  rocks,  holes,  &c.,  renders  the 
whole  game  of  flight  and  pursuit  a  plain,  straight-forward 
matter  of  hard  running  on  both  sides ;  so  that  it  is  no  great 
•wonder  after  all,  if  the  heels  of  both  the  predatory  and  fugi- 
tive animals  should  be  somewhat  cultivated.  As  civilization 
is  extended  toward  these  remote  regions,  we  shall  know  more 
of  the  habits  of  these  fleet  children  of  the  solitudes,  it  is  to  be 
hoped. 

The  Arctic  Fox  is  more  familiar  to  us,  though  really  far 
more  distant,  and  living  among  more  unpropitious  and  appa- 
rently inaccessible  fastnesses,  locked  in  by  icebergs. 

I  shall  merely  say  of  it,  that  it  is  the  only  one  of  the  genus 
which  we  think  at  all  justifies  the  remark,  that  "  a  large  fox 
is  a  wolf,  and  a  small  wolf  may  be  termed  a  fox."  It  is  much 
more  like  the  jackal  and  wolf  in  its  habits ;  like  them,  it  is 
gregarious,  when  pressed  with  hunger,  and  is  known,  like 
them,  to  hunt  in  packs. 

But  the  Red  and  Gray  Foxes  are  the  most  interesting,  for 
around  them  all  the  legendary  and  historical  memorabilia 
of  the  genus  cluster.  This  Red  Fox  must  be  the  same  mighty 
embodiment  of  quadrupedal  treachery,  upon  whose  sneaking 
head  the  indignant  Chaucer  loosened  such  an  avalanche  of 
bitter  epithet  and  grand  comparison — 

"  0  false  morel erour  reecking  in  thy  den  ! 
0  newe  Scariot,  newe  Genelon, 
0  false  dissimulour,  0  Greek  Sinon, 
That  brouglitest  Troye  al  utterly  to  roune." 

And  I  fear  he  has  not  much  improved  in  manners  since ; 
for  so  well  is  the  slipperiness  of  his  reputation  understood, 
that  his  most  earnestly  solicitous  friends,  the  sportsmen,  not 
to  speak  of  Naturalists,  are  to  this  day  puzzled  with  regard 
to  his  identity.  It  is  a  question  now  of  grave  dispute,  whether 
this  "  false  morderour,"  denounced  into  immortality  by  Chau- 
cer, be  identical  with  the  personage  known  by  the  same  name 
among  us — one  party  strenuously  maintaining  that  the  Red 


256  WILD   SCENES   AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

Fox  of  America  is  entitled  to  the  glory  of  such  high  descent, 
while  the  other  sturdily  contends  that  our  Fox  is  an  abori- 
ginal Fox,  and  by  no  means  deserving  of  such  hard  names  as 
Chaucer  used  with  regard  to  the  English  Fox. 

This  dispute  is  rather  curious  and  amusing  than  serious.  I 
shall  look  over  some  of  the  grounds  of  this  interesting  contro- 
versy. One  party  contends  most  earnestly  that  it  is  the 
European  Fox,  which  was  brought  over  by  one  of  the  Conti- 
nental Governors,  who  was  an  ardent  sportsman,  and  who 
turned  a  pair  or  more  loose  to  breed  on  Long  Island ;  that 
finally  they  escaped,  they  or  their  descendants,  over  to  the 
main  land,  and  have  since  migrated  South  and  West. 

The  other  party  contends  that  it  is  a  native  species,  and 
comes  from  the  North,  migrating — as  many  other  species  of 
quadrupeds  and  birds,  as  well  as  nations  of  men  have  done — 
towards  the  South. 

The  last  argument  appears  to  me  to  be  the  true  one,  be- 
cause, in  the  first  place,  although  there  are  many  points  of 
general  resemblance,  which  might  deceive  any  but  careful 
Naturalists,  yet  it  has  been  found,  when  the  two  animals 
have  been  brought  together  and  critically  compared  by  them, 
that  they  are  quite  clearly  distinct.  This,  of  itself,  ought  to 
be  enough  to  settle  the  question ;  but  when  we  come  to 
remember,  in  the  second  place,  that  the  Red  Fox  and  all  its 
varieties  is  a  Northern  animal,  and  that  from  its  cunning  and 
sagacity,  it  would  always  make  a  convenience  of  the  neigh- 
borhood of  man,  for  the  purpose  of  preying  upon  his  domesti- 
cated creatures,  we  can  well  understand  how  its  progress 
South  should  have  been  quite  as  gradual  as  that  of  well 
stocked  barn-yards  and  fat  flocks  of  geese. 

The  case  is  to  me  a  perfectly  plain  one ;  and  the  answer  to 
the  multiplied  inquiries  I  hear  from  old  sportsmen — ""\Vhcther 
it  is  that  the  Red  Fox  has  degenerated,  or  that  our  hounds, 
through  careful  breeding,  have  been  appreciated  in  speed  ? — 
since  it  is  true  that  the  Red  Fox  is  now  taken  with  ease  in 


FOX  HUNTING  IN  AMERICA.  257 

two  hours  at  most,  when  we  thought  ourselves  fortunate, 
when  he  first  came  amongst  us,  if  we  run  him  down  in 
twelve," — is  equally  plain.  He  is  a  Northern  animal,  and 
the  fat  living  you  give  him,  and  your  warm  climate,  have 
degenerated  the  gaunt  starveling  of  the  North. 

Godman,  in  his  American  Natural  History,  disposes  of  the 
question  in  quite  a  summary  manner,  and,  no  doubt,  greatly 
to  his  own  satisfaction.  He  says  : — 

By  the  fineness  of  its  fur,  the  liveliness  of  its  color, 
length  of  limbs,  and  slenderness  of  body,  as  well  as  the  form 
of  its  skull,  the  Red  Fox  of  America  is  obviously  distinguished 
from  the  common  fox  of  Europe,  to  which,  in  other  respects, 
it  bears  a  resemblance  sufficiently  striking  to  mislead  an  inci- 
dental observer. 

But  to  suppose  this  question  of  varieties  settled,  we  may 
proceed  in  justice  to  say  that  with  all  his  persecution  Reynard 
has  never  been  remarkable  for  ill-nature,  except  after  the 
manner  of  a  practical  joker,  who  gives  and  takes ;  he  has  too 
great  regard  for  his  ancient  and  privileged  character  as  a 
humorist,  ever  to  show  his  teeth  savagely,  except  when  fully 
cornered,  and  then  he  dies  game.  No  wonder  the  gall  of  bitter- 
ness should  be  stirred  within  him  at  the  venal  and  unfair 
method  of  pursuit  common  in  the  Northern  States,  where  the 
Cross  Fox  is  hunted  by  countrymen  on  foot  through  the  snow. 

The  dogs  used  are  a  mongrel  cross  upon  the  cur  hound  and 
grayhound.  This  animal  is  stronger  and  swifter  than  any 
thorough-bred,  and  better  suited  for  this  peculiar  purpose — 
for  the  object  is  simply  to  get  the  skin  and  turn  it  into  dollais 
and  cents  in  the  most  direct  possible  manner.  There  is  no 
poetry  or  chivalry  in  this  kind  of  chase,  of  which  Dr.  Bach- 
man  gives  the  following  account. 

o  o 

In  the  fresh-fallen  and  deep  snows  of  mid-winter,  the 
hunters  are  most  successful.  During  these  severe  snow 
storms,  the  ruffled  grouse,  called  in  our  Eastern  States  the 
partridge,  is  often  snowed  up  and  covered  over ;  or  sometimes 

17 


258  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

plunges  from  on  wing  into  the  soft  snow,  where  it  remains 
concealed  for  a  day  or  two.  The  fox  occasionally  surprises 
these  birds,  and  as  he  is  usually  stimulated  at  this  inclement 
season,  by  the  gnawings  of  hunger,  he  is  compelled  to  seek 
for  food  by  day  as  well  as  by  night ;  his  fresh  track  may  be 
seen  in  the  fields,  along  the  fences,  and  on  the  skirts  of  the 
farm-yard,  as  well  as  in  the  deep  forest.  Nothing  is  easier 
than  to  track  the  fox  under  these  favorable  circumstances, 
and  the  trail  having  been  discovered,  it  is  followed  up  until 
Reynard  is  started. 

Now  the  chase  begins ;  the  half-hound  yells  out,  in  tones 
far  removed  from  the  mellow  notes  of  the  thorough-bred  dog, 
but  equally  inspiriting,  perhaps,  through  the  clear  frosty  air, 
as  the  solitary  hunter  eagerly  follows,  as  fast  as  his  limited 
powers  of  locomotion  will  admit.  At  intervals  of  three  or 
four  minutes,  the  sharp  cry  of  the  dog  resounds,  the  fox  has  no 
time  to  double  and  shuffle,  the  dog  is  at  his  heels  almost,  and 
speed,  speed,  is  his  only  hope  of  life.  Now  the  shrill  baying 
of  the  hound  becomes  irregular ;  we  may  fancy  he  is  at  the 
throat  of  his  victim ;  the  hunter  is  far  in  the  rear,  toiling 
along  the  track  which  marks  the  course  so  well  contested, 
but  occasionally  the  voice  of  his  dog,  softened  by  the  distance, 
is  borne  on  the  wind  to  his  car. 

For  a  mile  or  two  the  fox  keeps  ahead  of  his  pursuer ;  but 
the  latter  has  the  longest  legs,  and  the  snow  impedes  him  less 
than  it  does  poor  Reynard.  Every  bound  and  plunge  into 
the  snow  diminishes  the  distance  between  the  fox  and  his 
relentless  foe.  Onward  they  rush,  through  field,  fence,  brush- 
wood, and  open  forest,  the  snow  flying  from  bush  and  briar 
as  they  dart  through  the  copse,  or  speed  across  the  newly 
cleared  field. 

But  this  desperate  race  cannot  last  longer ;  the  fox  must 
gain  his  burrow,  or  some  cavernous  rock,  or  he  dies.  Alas  ! 
he  lias  been  lured  too  far  away  fiom  his  customary  haunts, 
and  from  his  secure  retreq  t,  in  search  of  prey ;  he  is  unable 


FOX   HUNTING   IN   AMERICA.  259 

to  reach  his  home  ;  the  dog  is  even  now  within  a  foot  of  his 
brush. 

One  more  desperate  leap,  and  with  a  sudden  snappish 
growl  he  turns  upon  his  pursuer,  and  endeavors  to  defend 
himself  with  his  sharp  teeth.  For  a  moment  he  resists  the 
dog,  hut  is  almost  instantly  overcome.  He  is  not  killed,  how- 
ever, in  the  first  onset ;  both  dog  and  fox  are  so  fatigued  that 
they  now  sit  on  their  haunches,  facing  each  other,  resting, 
panting,  their  tongues  hanging  out,  and  the  foam  from  their 
lips  dropping  on  the  snow. 

After  fiercely  eyeing  each  other  for  awhile,  both  become 
impatient — the  former  to  seize  his  prey,  the  other  to  escape. 
At  the  first  leap  of  the  fox  the  dog  seizes  him ;  with  renewed 
vigor  he  seizes  him  by  the  throat,  and  does  not  loose  his  hold 
until  the  snow  is  stained  with  blood,  and  the  fox  lies  rumpled, 
draggled,  with  blood-shot  eye,  and  frothy,  open  mouth,  a 
mangled  carcase  on  the  ground. 

The  hunter  soon  comes  up :  he  has  made  several  short  cuts, 
guided  by  the  baying  of  his  hound;  and  striking  the  deep 
trail  in  the  snow  again,  at  a  point  much  nearer  the  scene  of 
the  death-struggle,  he  hurries  toward  the  place  where  the  last 
cry  was  heard,  and  pushes  forward  in  a  half  run  until  ho 
meets  his  dog,  which,  on  hearing  his  master  approach,  gene- 
rally advances  towards  him,  and  leads  the  way  to  the  place 
where  he  has  achieved  his  victory. 

There  are  yet  more  unfair  modes  of  taking  this  gallant 
animal,  known  at  the  North,  the  very  mention  of  which  would 
make  the  warm  blood  of  a  genuine  fox-hunter  boil  over  with 
contemptuous  indignation. 

The  fox  is  pursued  over  the  snow  by  one  of  the  scrubby 
mongrels  above  mentioned,  until  he  is  fairly  earthed,  when 
the  sportsman,  as  he  is  facetiously  called,  comes  up  with 
spade  and  pick-axe  on  his  shoulder,  and  after  cooly  surveying 
the  ground,  prepares  to  dig  him  out.  His  labor  at  this  season 
is  worth  something  less  than  a  dollar  a  day,  and  if  he  sue- 


260  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

ceeds  in  digging  out  the  poor  fox,  he  will  receive  from  five 
to  seven  dollars  for  the  valuable  skin,  which  would  be  a  con- 
siderable advance  upon  what  he  gets  for  fair  and  honorable 
labor. 

Alas !  poor  Reynard,  for  all  the  dignity  of  ancient  asso- 
ciations, 

"  To  what  base  uses  do  we  come  at  last." 

The  countryman  throws  off  his  coat,  goes  doggedly  to  work, 
and,  after  hours  of  digging,  perhaps  succeeds  in  dragging  out 
and  knocking  the  poor  beast  upon  the  head,  and  then  swings 
the  inglorious  trophy  upon  his  back  to  trudge  away,  triumph- 
ing in  the  prospective  dollars.  It  may  be  he  has  to  smoke 
poor  Reynard  to  death  in  his  hole,  or  else  knock  him  on  the 
nose  as  he  rushes  forth  to  the  fresh  air. 

Truly  this  may  be  called  "  Crucigera,"  the  cross-bearing 
variety  of  the  genus,  since  it  is  subjected  to  such  unorthodox 
and  savage  modes  of  persecution,  which  certainly  entitle  it  to 
the  crown  of  martyrdom,  if  not  to  the  meeker  glory  of  bear- 
ing the  cross  for  the  sins  of  all  its  wicked  and  witty  family. 
Indeed,  all  the  twelve  tribes,  in  whatever  part  of  the  world 
they  are  found,  may  be  said  to  "bear  the  cross"  of  slander 
and  unmerited  abuse  from  the  whole  quadrupidal  kingdom. 

But  Reynard  having  somehow  mysteriously,  got  a  bad  name 
for  himself,  is  made  amenable  for  all  the  cunning,  sly, 
audacious  things  done  among  the  animals,  and  is  therefore 
considered,  and  really  known  to  be,  a  grievously  wicked  per- 
son. 

"It  is  no  harm  to  abuse  a  poor  devil  whom  the  world 
unites  in  abusing,"  is  the  magnanimous  motto  of  the  mob, 
and  poor  Reynard  has  the  full  benefit  of  it,  in  an  amount  of 
obloquy  and  buffeting  which  would  surely  have  been  sufficient 
to  chasten  and  reform  the  life  of  any  but  such  an  incorrigible. 

I  rather  think  he  glories  in  bearing  the  cross,  and  courta 
martyrdom.  I  can  perceive  no  symptoms  of  amendment. 


POX  HUNTING  IN  AMERICA.  261 

He  is  still  the  glozing  and  subtle  intriguant  of  the  Greek 
fables.  The  old  "romaunt"  is  still  being  enacted,  and  "all 
the  beasts  complain  of  the  fox,"  daily  and  hourly,  until  king 
lion  roars  in  .wrath  against  his  wily  minister. 

I  fear  there  is  no  sober  reform  or  hopeful  redemption  for 
the  sad  scamp,  since  his  quaint  malfeasances,  instead  of  be- 
coming more  tempered  and  ameliorated  by  time,  have  grown 
only  the  more  glaring  and  impudent  as  history  brings  him 
nearer  to  us. 

Verily,  it  is  a  sad  story  that  the  records  tell,  for  Chaucer 
found  him  still  "  a  col  fox,  full  of  sleigh  iniquitie,"  even  in 
his  day.  The  young  poet,  in  the  prattle  of  his  "  garrulous 
god,  innocence,"  tells  us  a  dreadful  story  of  the  morals  and 
manners  of  Reynard  in  his  time. 

I  think  it  should  be  blazoned  now  in  the  self-same  words 
of  him 

"Who  first  with  harmony  informed  our  tongue," 

that  it  may  be  kept  before  the  eyes  of  all  modern  and  juvenile 
Reynards,  as  a  warning  and  example  of  the  fearful  conse- 
quences following  upon  the  unrestrained  indulgence  of  the 
predatory  instinct  they  have  inherited.  It  appears  from 
Chaucer's  evidence,  that  "  Russel,  the  fox,"  alias  Reynard, 
(for  like  all  thieves  and  robbers  he  has  an  alias,}  did 

"  By  high  imagination  forecast — " 
(which  hints,  I  suppose,  at  clairvoyance,)  find  his  way 

"Into  the  yerde,  there  chaunticlere  the  faire 
Was  vont  and  eke  his  wives  to  repaire." 

This  was  of  course  only  one  of  his  accustomed  jokes  ;  ami 
although  he  certainly  seemed  to  be  "on  the  sneak"  when 
crouching 

" in  a  bed  of  \vortes,  still  he  lay," 

no  intimate  admirer  of  his  ancestral  glory  would  have  sus- 


262  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

pected  what  dire  and  shameless  purpose  brought  him  there  ! 
The  poet  denounces  him,  as  we  haye  seen,  with  a  just  and 
dreadful  denunciation,  which,  it  would  seem,  must  have  been 
sufficient  to  arouse  the  conscience  of  anybody  else,  and  s?nd 
him  with  rebuked  tail  between  his  legs  abashed  away.  But, 
nevertheless,  observe  how  coldly  it  has  fallen  upon  his  deaf 
ear,  and  how,  with  oily  words  of  glozing  courtesy,  he  proceeds 
to  assail  the  gallant  and  unsuspecting  cock,  upon  his  weak 
side  of  vanity  and  family  pride.  He  tells  him  blandly— 

"  Save  you  ne  herd  I  never  man  so  sing 
As  did  your  fader  in  the  morwening." 

The  silly  bird  believes  him,  and 

" Stood  high  upon  his  toos, 


Stretching  his  neck  and  held  his  eyen  cloos, 
And  gan  to  crowen  loud  for  the  nones, 
And  Dan  Russel,  the  fox,  start  up  at  ones, 
And  by  the  garget  heute  chaunticlere, 
And  on  his  back  towards  the  wood  him  bere." 

Then  arises  at  sight  of  the   daring  depredator,  the  many- 
tongued  hubbub  of  the  barn-yard. 

"The  sely  widow  and  her  daughtren  two," 

rush  out  in  pursuit  with  broom-sticks  and  with  staves,  and 
cry  "  harow  and  wala  wa,  a  ha,  the  fox !"  and  after  him,  too, 

"Ran  Colle,  our  dog,  and  Talbot  and  Gerlond, 
And  Malkin  with  her  distaf  in  hire  hond ; 
Ran  cow  and  calf,  and  eke  the  veray  hoggs." 
*  *  *  *  *  * 

"They  ronncn  so  hem  thought  their  hertes  breke, 
They  yellcden  as  fendes  don  in  hell, 
The  dokes  crieden  as  men  would  hem  quelle, 
The  gees  for  feur  flowen  over  the  trees, 
Out  of  the  hive  came  the  swarm  of  bees, 
So  hideous  was  the  noise  a  bcnrdicte!" 

Shocking  and  abhorrent  as  is  the  view  of  the  moral  life  of 
Russel,  alias  Reynard,  here  presented  by  the  simple-hearted 


FOX   HUNTING   IN  AMEKICA.  263 

chronicler,  there  are  yet  more  grievous  and  solemn  charges 
laid  to  his  door  in  the  "  Shepherd's  Callender."  I  cannot 
but  devoutly  hope  that  the  grand  old  Spencer  is  rather,  in 
this  case,  after  the  confirmed  manner  of  his  "  Faerie  Queen," 
indulging  in  metaphor,  than  telling  a  veritable  incident  out 
of  his  own  knowledge.  His  ominous  words  are  concerning 

" A  wily  fox,  that  having  spide, 

Where  on  a  sunny  bank  the  lambes  doo  play, 
Full  closely  creeping  by  the  hinder  side, 
Lyes  in  ambushment  of  his  hoped  prey, 
Ne  stirreth  limbe  till  seeing  readie  tide, 
He  rushetli  forth  and  snatcheth  quite  away 
One  of  the  little  younglings  unawares." 

This  bloody,  but  cold  and  sneaking  crime,  wrought  on  in- 
nocence, so  white-wooled,  gaily,  meek  and  unsuspecting,  is 
too  fearful  to  dwell  upon.  I  can  only  drop  the  curtain  here 
for  the  present,  hoping  that  Reynard  may  not  prove  guilty, 
according  to  the  poet's  showing  ! 

Certainly  we  are  not  much  comforted  when  we  take  up  the 
character  of  the  "  Gray  Fox."  Comparisons  are  proverbially 
odious,  yet  as  an  accurate  historian,  I  have  felt  myself  com- 
pelled to  make  them. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  Gray  Fox,  as  compared  with 
the  Red,  is  something  of  a  sneak  !  They  are  both  four-footed 
Jesuits,  to  be  sure,  but  the  latter  is  stouter,  and  besides  has 
a  family  name,  an  ancestral  glory  to  sustain  !  He  is  the 
Don  Quixote  of  the  foxes,  and  therefore  we  can  well  under- 
stand his  hen-roost  chivalry,  not  to  speak  of  his  barn-yard 
heroics ! 

Though  we  admit  him  to  be  great,  we  cannot  help  recog- 
nizing the  Gray  Fox  as  the  special  embodiment  of  all  the 
blarney  and  lower  cunning  of  the  race.  We  are  most  familiar 
with  him  at  the  South,  and  feel  a  sort  of  local  jealousy  for 
his  fame  and  character.  We  flatter  ourselves  that  he  can 
afford  to  be  guilty  of  a  few  peccadillos,  since  they  are  con- 
trasted by  such  extraordinary  attributes. 


264  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

Let  anybody  read  the  subjoined  anecdote,  by  the  Editor? 
of  the  "  Quadrupeds,"  and  say  afterwards,  if  he  can,  that 
the  Gray  Fox  is  not  an  extraordinary  animal ! 

On  a  cold,  drizzly,  sleety,  rainy  day,  while  travelling  in 
Carolina,  we  observed  a  Gray  Fox  in  a  field  of  broom-grass, 
coursing  against  the  wind  and  hunting,  in  the  manner  of  the 
pointer  dog.  We  stopped  to  witness  his  manoeuvres ;  sud- 
denly he  stood  still,  and  squatted  low  on  his  haunches ;  a 
moment  after  he  proceeded  on  once  more,  but  with  slow  and 
cautious  steps  ;  at  times  his  nose  was  raised  higher  in  the  air, 
moving  about  from  side  to  side.  At  length  he  seemed  to  be  sure 
of  his  game,  and  went  straight  forward,  although  very  slowly, 
at  times  crawling  on  the  earth;  he  was  occasionally  hidden 
by  the  grass,  so  that  we  could  not  see  him  very  distinctly ; 
however,  at  length  we  observed  him  make  a  dead  halt.  There 
was  no  twisting  or  horizontal  movement  of  the  tail,  like  that 
made  by  the  common  house-cat  when  ready  to  make  a  spring, 
but  his  tail  seemed  resting  on  the  side,  whilst  his  ears  were 
drawn  back  and  his  head  raised  only  a  few  inches  from  the 
earth. 

He  remained  in  this  attitude  nearly  half  a  minute,  and 
then  made  a  sudden  pounce  upon  his  prey ;  at  the  same  in- 
stant the  whirring  of  the  distracted  covey  was  heard,  as  the 
affrighted  birds  took  wing ;  two  or  three  sharp  screams  suc- 
ceeded, and  the  successful  prowler  immediately  passed  out 
of  the  field  with  an  unfortunate  partridge  in  his  mouth,  evi- 
dently with  the  intention  of  seeking  a  more  retired  spot  to 
make  a  dainty  meal. 

We  had  a  gun  with  us,  and  he  passed  within  long  gun  shot 
of  us.  But  we  did  not  wound  or  destroy  him?  He  has 
enabled  us,  for  the  first  time,  to  bear  witness  that  he  is  not 
only  a  dog,  but  a  good  pointer  in  the  bargain ;  he  has  obeyed 
an  impulse  of  nature,  and  obtained  a  meal  in  the  manner  in 
which  it  was  intended  by  the  wise  Creator  that  he  should  bo 
supplied.  lie  seizes  only  a  single  bird,  whilst  man,  who 


TOX  HUNTING  IN  AMERICA.  265 

vrould  weak  liis  vengeance  on  this  poacher  among  the  game, 
is  not  satisfied  until  he  has  killed  half  the  covey  with  the 
murderous  gun,  or  caught  the  whole  brood  in  a  trap,  and 
wrung  off  their  necks  in  triumph. 

Condemn  not  the  fox  too  hastily ;  he  has  a  more  strikingly 
carnivorous  tooth  than  yourself,  indicating  the  kind  of  food 
he  is  required  to  seek ;  he  takes  no  wanton  pleasure  in  destroy- 
ing the  bird ;  he  exhibits  to  his  companions  no  trophies  of  his 
skill,  and  is  contented  with  a  meal;  whilst  you  are  not  satisfied 
when  your  capacious  bird-bag  is  filled. 

This  anecdote  is  very  curious  and  interesting  for  several 
reasons.  In  the  first  place,  it  exhibits  the  fox  in  a  new  cha- 
racter of  higher  intelligence,  than  he  has  credit  for  possessing, 
— and  in  the  next,  it  goes  far  towards  confirming  the  old 
Spanish  legend,  with  regard  to  the  pointer  dog.  This  repre- 
sents the  pointer  as  a  made  variety,  and  not  an  original  race. 

The  legend  represents  that  a  Spanish  monk,  first  observed, 
in  the  wild  dog  of  Andalusia,  the  trick  of  pausing  before  the 
spring  upon  its  prey.  As  this  pause  was  longer  than  in  any 
other  animal,  the  idea  was  at  once  suggested,  that  by  train- 
ing, this  habit  might  be  made  useful.  He  accordingly  tamed 
a  number  of  these  dogs,  and  finding  them  somewhat  deficient 
in  p.'ze,  docility  and  scent,  crossed  them  upon  the  nobler  spe- 
cies of  hound,  and  hence  the  pointer  was  derived. 

I  have  always  been  inclined  to  regard  this  remarkable  story 
as  giving  somewhere  near  the  true  origin  of  the  pointer,  and 
think  it  most  likely  that  the  wild  dog  mentioned,  was  a  tran- 
sition species  between  the  wolf  and  fox.  But  apart  from 
these  conjectures,  this  incident  illustrates  from  an  entirely 
new  point  of  view,  the  predatory  habits  of  the  species. 

In  the  older  States,  as  all  other  game  has  been  nearly  ex- 
terminated,  these  nine-lived    creatures    seem    only  to    have 
become  more  abundant,  more  sagacious  and  more  popular. 
Spanccr,  in  his  "  Shepherd's  Callendcr,"  very  clearly  inti 
mates  that  this  is  not  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  men 


2G6  WILD   SCENES   AND  WILD   HUNTEKS. 

and  foxes,  that  such  a  condition  of  things  had  existed.     He 
Bays: 

"  Well  is  it  known  that  sith  the  Gascon  King, 
Never  was  wolf  seen,  many  nor  some ; 
Nor  in  all  Kent  nor  in  Christendome ; 
But  the  fewer  wolves  (the  sooth  to  sain,) 
The  more  bene  the  foxes  that  here  remaine." 

This  animal  seems  to  have  been  able  to  take  care  of  itself, 
wh?n  all  others  have  vanished  before  the  exterminating  tread 
of  human  progress.  The  game  laws  protect  the  Red  Fox  in 
England  to  an  uncertain  degree ;  but  the  Gray  Fox  protects 
it.1] elf  here  in  a  certain  degree,  without  the  aid  of  game  laws, 
and  seems  in  many  districts,  to  defy  all  our  efforts  to  exter- 
minate it ;  while  its  sagacity,  dexterity  and  cunning,  seem 
only  to  have  been  increased  by  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of 
its  environment. 

Fox-hunting  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  States,  is  quite 
as  much  a  subject  of  enthusiasm,  as  it  has  been  in  England ; 
although  it  is  neither  so  expensive  nor  so  technical  with  us. 
We  don't  pay  fifty  guineas  a  couple  for  our  hounds,  or  keep 
studs  of  "hunters"  at  prodigious  cost;  yet  we  are  fox-hunt- 
ers after  a  rude  and  untechnical  manner ;  and  although  we 
do  not  ride  in  white  tops  and  corduroys,  yet  we  ride  to  the 
purpose ;  and  through  the  rude  and  break-neck  exigencies  of 
thicket,  forest,  fallen  trees,  precipitous  hills,  rough  rocks, 
precipices,  quaggy  swamps  and  fatal  quicksands,  we  are  still 
the  eager  and  staunch  hunters  of  a  game  as  staunch.  Our 
horses  doubly  trained  in  the  deer  and  fox-hunt,  are  more 
wiry  and  active  than  the  English  hunters,  although  they  may 
not  be  so  heely  in  passing  over  open  ground,  or  so  well  trained 
in  leaping  over  hedges  and  ditches  !  And,  finally,  as  for 
dogs,  their  genealogies  have  been  quite  scrupulously  preserved 
in  the  old  Scates.  Even  at  this  day,  we  frequently  find  tho 
SKakspcrian  ideal  of  the  dog,  still  carefully  maintained : — 


'FOX  HUNTING  IN  AMERICA.  207 

"  My  hounds  are  bred  out  of  the  Spartan  kind, 
So  flew'd,  so  sanded;  and  their  heads  are  hung 
With  ears  that  sweep  away  the  morning  dew, 
Crook-knee'd  and  dew-lapped,  like  Thessalian  bulls 
Slow  in  pursuit,  but  matched  in  mouth-like  bells." 

From  Maryland  to  Florida,  and  farther  west,  through  Ken- 
tucky and  Alabama  to  Mississippi  and  Louisiana,  fox-hunting 
next  to  deer  hunting  is  the  favorite  amusement  of  sportsmen, 
and  the  chase  of  that  animal  may  in  fact  be  regarded  ex- 
clusively as  a  southern  sport  in  the  United  States,  as  the  fox 
is  never  followed  on  horseback  in  the  North,  where  the  rocky 
and  precipitous  character  of  the  surface  in  many  districts 
prevents  the  best  riders  from  attempting  it ;  whilst  in  others, 
our  sturdy,  independent  farmers  would  not  like  to  see  a  dozen 
or  more  horsemen  leaping  through  fences,  and  with  break- 
neck speed  gallopping  through  the  wheat-fields,  or  other  "fall" 
crops.  Besides,  the  Red  Fox,  which  is  more  generally  found 
in  the  northern  States  than  the  gray  species,  runs  so  far 
before  the  dogs  that  he  is  seldom  seen,  although  the  huntsmen 
keep  up  with  the  pack,  and  after  a  chase  of  ten  miles,  during 
which  he  may  not  have  been  once  seen,  he  perhaps  takes 
refuge  in  some  deep  fissure  of  a  rock,  or  in  an  impenetrable 
burrow,  which  of  course  ends  the  sport,  very  much  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  fox. 

In  the  southern  States,  on  the  contrary,  the  ground  is,  in 
many  cases,  favorable  to  this  amusement,  and  the  planter  sus- 
tains but  little  injury  from  the  passing  hunt,  as  the  Gray 
Fox  usually  courses  through  woods  or  worn  out  old  fields, 
keeping  on  high  dry  ground,  and  seldom,  during  the  chase, 
running  across  a  cultivated  plantation. 

In  fox-hunting,  it  is  well  known  that  the  horse  usually 
becomes  as  much  excited  as  his  rider;  and  at  the  cry  of  the 
hounds,  I  have  known  an  old  steed,  which  had  been  turned 
loose  in  the  woods  to  pick  up  a  subsistence,  prick  up  his  ears, 


268  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

and  in  an  instant  start  off  full  gallop  until  he  overtook  the 
pack,  keeping  in  the  run  until  the  chase  was  ended. 

In  the  older  southern  States  the  modes  of  hunting  the  Gray 
Fox  are  much  alike.  To  the  sound  of  winding  horns  the 
neighboring  gentry  collect  at  an  appointed  place,  each  accom- 
panied by  his  favorite  dogs,  and  usually  a  negro  driver  to 
manage  them  and  keep  them  from  starting  deer.  Mounted 
on  fine  horses,  accustomed  to  the  sport,  they  send  in  the 
hounds  and  await  the  start,  chatting  in  a  group,  collected  in 
some  by-road,  or  some  high  spot  of  open  ground  from  which 
they  can  hear  every  sound  borne  upon  the  breeze.  Thickets 
on  the  edges  of  plantations,  briar  patches,  and  deserted 
fields  covered  with  bloom-grass,  are  places  where  the  fox  is 
most  likely  to  have  his  bed.  The  trail  he  has  left  behind  him 
during  his  nocturnal  rambles  being  struck,  the  hounds  are 
encouraged  by  the  voices  of  their  drivers  to  as  great  speed  aa 
the  devious  course  it  leads  them  will  permit.  Now  they  scent 
the  trail  the  fox  has  left  along  the  field,  when  in  search  of 
partridges,  meadow-larks,  rabbits  or  field-mice ;  presently 
they  trace  his  footsteps  to  some  large  log,  from  whence  he  has 
jumped  on  to  a  worm-fence,  and  after  walking  a  little  way 
on  it,  leaped  a  ditch  and  skulked  towards  the  borders  of  a 
marsh.  Through  all  his  crooked  ways  the  sagacious  hounds 
unravel  his  trail,  until  he  is  suddenly  roused,  perchance  from 
a  dreamy  vision  of  fat  hens,  geese  or  turkeys,  and  with  a 
general  cry,  the  whole  pack,  led  on  by  the  staunchest  and 
best  dogs,  open-mouthed  and  eager,  join  the  chase.  The 
startled  fox  makes  two  or  three  rapid  doublings,  and  then  sud- 
denly flies  to  a  cover,  perhaps  a  quarter  of  a  mile  off,  and 
sometimes  thus  puts  the  hounds  off  the  scent  for  a  few  minutes, 
as  when  cool  and  at  first  starting  his  scent  is  not  so  strong  as 
that  of  the  Red  Fox. 

After  the  chase  has  continued  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  or 
so,  and  the  animal  is  somewhat  heated,  his  track  is  followed 


POX  HUNTING  IN  AMERICA.  269 

with  greater  ease  and  quickness,  and  the  scene  becomes  ani- 
mating and  exciting.  Now  the  masters  dash  into  the  chase, 
and  with  wild,  eager  yells  of  bursting  excitment,  they  spur 
after  the  roaring  pack  and  regardless  plunge  at  headlong 
speed  over  and  through  the  difficulties  of  the  ground. 

When  the  woods  are  free  from  underbrush,  which  is  often 
the  case  in  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas,  the  grass  and  bushes 
being  burnt  almost  annually,  many  of  the  sportsmen  keep  up 
with  the  dogs,  and  the  fox  is  frequently  in  sight.  He  now 
resorts  to  some  of  the  manoeuvres  for  which  he  is  famous ; 
he  .  plunges  into  a  thicket,  doubles,  runs  into  the  water,  leaps 
on  to  a  log,  or  perhaps  gets  upon  a  worm  fence  and  runs 
along  the  top  of  it  for  a  hundred  yards,  leaping  from  it  with 
a  desperate  bound  and  continuing  his  flight  in  the  vain  hope 
of  escape.  At  length  he  becomes  fatigued ;  he  once  more 
drives  into  the  closest  thickets,  where  he  doubles  hurriedly ; 
he  hears  and  even  sees  the  dogs  upon  him,  and  as  a  last  resort 
climbs  a  small  tree.  The  hounds  and  hunters  are  almost  in- 
stantly at  the  foot  of  it,  and  while  the  former  are  barking 
fiercely  at  the  terrified  animal,  the  latter  usually  determine 
to  give  him  another  chance  for  his  life.  The  dogs  are  taken 
off  to  a  little  distance,  and  the  fox  is  forced  to  leap  to  the 
ground  by  reaching  him  with  a  long  pole  or  throwing  a  billet 
of  wood  at  him ;  he  is  allowed  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before 
the  hounds  are  permitted  to  pursue  him ;  but  he  is  now  less 
able  to  escape  than  before,  he  has  become  stiff  and  chill,  is 
soon  overtaken,  and  falls  an  easy  prey,  turning,  however, 
upon  his  pursuers,  with  a  fierce  despair,  and  snapping  at  them 
indomitably,  game  to  the  last. 

The  extraordinary  cunning  and  sagacity  of  the  Gray  Fox 
is  so  much  the  constant  theme  of  Southern  hunters,  that  we 
might  collect  quite  a  volume  of  well  authenticated  stories  of 
its  feats ;  but  the  best  of  the  joke  is,  that  wonderful  as  are 
the  stories  they  tell  of  it,  we  in  Kentucky,  and  wherever  the 
Reel  Fox  has  yet  made  its  appearance,  manage  to  out-Herod 


270  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

Herod  iii  the  wonders  we  have  to  tell  concerning  it ;  so,  that 
on  the  whole,  the  question  of  rivalry  may  be  set  down  as  near 
about  as  long  as  it  is  short. 

Admitting  all  the  champions  of  the  Red  Fox  desire,  the 
Gray  Fox  must  be  acknowledged  to  be  smart,  decidedly  smart ! 
It  frequently  climbs  trees  with  an  awkward  readiness,  particu- 
larly in  the  summer  time — but  its  favorite  resort  is  to  holes. 
Indeed,  from  what  I  remember  of  the  Gray  Fox,  I  should  say 
emphatically  that  it  was  "  of  the  earth,  earthy,"  for  in  lime- 
stone regions,  such  as  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  &c.,  where  sinks 
or  holes  in  the  ground  are  abundant,  the  fellow  only  conde- 
scends to  run  for  recreation,  and  takes  to  a  hole  precisely  as 
soon  as  he  becomes  blown. 

An  incident  occurred  in  my  own  experience,  and  in  the 
southern  part  of  Kentucky,  illustrating  the  astonishing  saga- 
city of  this  fox.  I  was  enthusiastically  addicted  to  fox  hunt- 
ing, and  kept  a  fine  pack  of  hounds.  Several  young  men  of 
the  neighborhood  kept  packs  of  dogs  also,  and  we  used  very 
frequently  to  meet,  and  join  in  the  chase  with  all  our  forces. 

There  was  a  certain  briary  old  field  of  great  extent,  near 
the  middle  of  which  we  could  on  any  morning  of  the  year, 
start  a  Gray  Fox.  After'  a  chase  of  an  hour  or  so,  just 
enough  to  blow  the  dogs  and  horses  well,  we  would  invariably 
lose  the  fox  at  a  given  spot,  the  'fence  corner  of  a  large  planta- 
tion, which  was  opened  into  a  heavy  forest  on  one  side  of  this 
old  field !  The  frequency  and  certainty  of  this  event  became 
the  standing  joke  of  the  country.  Fox  hunters  from  other 
neighborhoods  would  bring  their  pack  for  miles,  to  have  a  run 
out  of  this  mysterious  fox,  in  the  hope  of  clearing  up  the 
mystery.  But  no.  They  were  all  baffled  alike.  We  often 
examined  the  ground  critically,  to  find  out,  if  possible,  the 
mode  of  escape,  but  could  discover  nothing,  that  in  any  way 
accounted  for  it,  or  suggested  any  thing  in  regard  to  it.  That 
it  did  not  fly,  was  very  sure ;  that  it  must  escape  along  the 
fence  in  some  way  was  equally  so.  My  first  idea  was,  that 


TOX  HUNTING   IN  AMERICA.  271 

the  animal,  as  is  very  common,  had  climbed  upon  the  top  rail 
of  the  fence,  and  walked  along  it  to  such  a  distance  before 
leaping  off,  that  the  dogs  were  entirely  thrown  out.  I  accord- 
ingly followed  the  fence  with  the  whole  pack  about  me,  clear 
round  the  plantation,  but  without  striking  the  trail  again  or 
making  any  discovery. 

The  affair  now  became  quite  serious.  The  reputation  of 
our  hounds  was  suffering;  and  besides,  I  found  they  were 
really  losing  confidence  in  themselves,  and  would  not  run  with 
half  the  staunch  eagerness  which  had  before  characterized 
them.  The  joke  of  being  regularly  baffled,  had  been  so  often 
repeated,  that  they  now  came  to  consider  it  a  settled  thing 
that  they  were  never  to  shake  another  fox  again,  and  were 
disposed  to  give  up  in  despair.  Some  of  the  neighbors  had 
grown  superstitious  about  it,  and  vowed  that  this  must  be  a 
weir-fox,  who  could  make  himself  invisible  when  he  pleased. 

At  last  I  determined  to  watch  at  the  fence-corner,  and  see 
what  became  of  the  fox.  Within  about  the  usual  time,  we 
heard  him  heading  towards  the  mysterious  corner,  as  the 
voices  of  the  pack  clearly  indicated.  I  almost  held  my  breath 
in  my  concealment,  while  I  watched  for  the  appearance  of 
this  extraordinary  creature.  In  -a  little  while,  the  fox  made 
his  appearance,  coming  on  at  quite  a  leisurely  pace,  a  little 
in  advance  of  the  pack.  When  he  reached  the  corner,  he 
climbed  in  a  most  unhurried  and  deliberate  way  to  the  top 
rail  of  the  fence,  and  then  walked  along  it,  balancing  himself 
as  carefully  as  a  rope-dancer.  He  proceeded  down  the  side 
of  the  fence  next  to  the  forest  in  which  I  was  concealed. 

I  followed  cautiously,  so  as  just  to  keep  him  in  view.  Be- 
fore he  had  thus  proceeded  more  than  two  hundred  yards,  the 
hounds  came  up  to  the  corner,  and  he  very  deliberately  paused 
and  looked  back  for  a  moment,  then  he  hurried  on  along  the 
fence  some  paces  farther,  and  when  he  came  opposite  a  dead, 
but  leaning  tree,  which  stood  inside  the  fence,  some  twelve  or 
sixteen  feet  distant,  he  stooped,  made  a  high  and  long  bound 


272  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

to  a  knot  upon  the  side  of  its  trunk,  up  which  he  ran,  and 
entered  a  hollo;?  in  the  top  -where  it  had  been  broken  off,  near 
thirty  feet  from  the  ground,  in  some  storm.  I  respected  the 
astuteness  of  the  trick  too  much  to  betray  its  author,  since  I 
was  now  personally  satisfied;  and  he  continued  for  a  long 
time  yet,  while  I  kept  his  secret,  to  be  the  wonder  and  the 
topic  of  neighboring  fox-hunters,  until  at  last  one  of  them 
happened  to  take  the  same  idea  into  his  head,  and  found  out 
the  mystery.  He  avenged  himself  by  cutting  down  the  tree, 
and  capturing  the  smart  fox. 

The  tree  stood  at  such  a  distance  from  the  fence,  that  no 
one  of  us,  who  had  examined  the  ground,  ever  dreamed  of  the 
possibility  that  the  fox  would  leap  to  it ;  it  seemed  a  physical 
impossibility ;  but  practice  and  the  convenient  knot  had  enabled 
cunning  Reynard  to  overcome  it,  with  assured  ease.  I  quote 
an  incident  from  the  Quadrupeds  of  America  of  nearly  the 
same  class. 

Shortly  after  the  rail  road  from  Charleston  to  Hamburg, 
South  Carolina,  had  been  constructed,  the  rails,  a  portion  of 
the  distance,  having  been  laid  upon  timbers  at  a  considerable 
height  from  the  ground,  supported  by  strong  posts,  we  ob- 
served a  fox  which  was  hard  pressed  by  a  pack  of  hounds, 
mounting  the  rails,  upon  which  he  ran  several  hundred  yards  ; 
the  dogs  were  unable  to  pursue  him,  and  thus  he  crossed  a 
deep  cypress  swamp,  over  which  the  rail  road  was  in  this 
singular  manner  carried,  and  made  his  escape  on  the  opposite 
side. 

The  late  Benjamin  C.  Yancy,  Esq.,  an  eminent  lawyer, 
who  in  his  youth  was  very  fond  of  fox  hunting,  related  the 
following : — A  fox  had  been  pursued,  near  his  residence  in 
Edgefield,  several  times,  but  the  hounds  always  lost  the  track 
at  a  place  where  there  was  a  foot-path  leading  down  a  steep 
hill.  He,  therefore,  determined  to  conceal  himself  near  this 
declivity  the  next  time  the  fox  was  started,  in  order  to  dis- 
cover his  mode  of  baffling  the  dogs  at  this  place.  The  animal 


FOX   HUNTING   IN   AMERICA.  273 

Was  accordingly  put  up  and  chased,  and  at  first  led  the  hounds 
through  many  bayous  and  ponds  in  the  woods,  but  at  length 
came  running  over  the  brow  of  the  hill  along  the  path,  stopped 
suddenly  and  spread  himself  out  flat  and  motionless  on  the 
ground.  The  hounds  came  down  the  hill  in  pursuit  at  a  dash- 
ing pace,  and  the  whole  pack  passed,  and  did  not  stop  until 
they  were  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill.  As  soon  as  the  imme- 
diate danger  was  over,  the  fox,  casting  a  furtive  glance  around 
him,  started  up,  and  ran  off  at  his  greatest  speed. 

I  knew  an  instance  much  resembling  the  last  given ;  but 
this  was  a  Red  Fox.  It  was  in  the  remarkable  bluffs  of  the 
Kentucky  river. 

The  fox  had  always  been  lost  at  the  edge  of  one  of  these 
abrupt  cliffs,  which  faced  the  river.  The  place  had  often 
been  examined  by  the  hunters,  but  as  the  descent  was  nearly 
a  sheer  perpendicular  of  several  hundred  feet,  it  had  only  to 
be  looked  over  to  convince  the  beholder  that  the  fox  must 
ha\e  wings  to  leap  down  it  in  safety.  At  last  a  hunter  deter- 
mined to  watch  the  fox,  and  accordingly  lay  in  wait.  He 
saw  the  creature  come  to  the  edge  of  the  bluff  and  look  down. 
Ten  feet  below,  there  was  a  break  in  the  perpendicular  line, 
ivhich  formed  a  sort  of  steppe  nearly  a  foot  in  width.  The 
movement  by  which  he  let  himself  down  to  this,  was  some- 
thing between  a  leap  and  a  slide,  but  it  nevertheless  landed 
him  safe  on  the  shelf;  and  then  it  appeared  that  this  was  the 
mouth  of  a  wide  fissure  in  the  rock.  The  most  curious  part 
of  this  story  is,  that  the  hunter  discovered  another  and  easy 
-ntrance  to  the  cave  from  the  level  ground  above.  This  the 
fox  never  used  when  the  hounds  were  on  his  trail,  as  the  more 
perilous  entrance  from  the  front  cut  short  the  scent,  and  pre- 
vented the  discovery  of  his  retreat.  He  could  only  get  clown 
that  way  and  came  out  by  the  other  opening  from  the  level. 

18 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS. 

MY  dissertation  of  the  last  chapter  upon  the  Fox  and  Fox 
Hunting,  though  strictly  germain  to  the  general  theme,  has 
caused  me  in  some  measure  to  lose  sight  of  the  individuality 
of  the  Hunter-Naturalist  in  one  of  his  favorite  sports.  Though 
I  have  turned  aside,  through  many  pages,  to  present  nobler 
exemplars  of  the  character,  still  I  must  be  here  permitted  to 
resume  that  broken  thread  of  personal  narrative,  in  which  I 
commenced  to  recount  something  of  its  humble  and  inner  ex- 
periences on  the  rough  highway  of  development ;  and  now, 
evil,  and  wild,  and  stern  as  they  may  be,  I  shall  continue  to 

274 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS.  275 

depict  them  with  an  unfaltering  hand,  for  the  lessons  they 
should  convey. 

The  rude  and  hardy  sports  in  which  my  boyhood,  youth 
and  opening  manhood  had  been  spent  with  such  devotion,  had 
yet  not  been  sufficiently  engrossing  to  divert  or  turn  aside 
that  morbid  revulsion  of  the  passions,  which  inevitably  super- 
venes upon  their  first  fiery  introduction — at  this  critical  period 
— to  reality  outside  the  holiday  world  of  Dreams  and  Books. 

Indeed,  I  had  scarcely  stepped  beyond  the  threshold  of 
the  closet,  and  found  myself  under  the  sun,  out  in  the  broad 
world,  before  the  sickness  of  this  spiritual  revulsion  came  over 
me.  I  felt  the  thin  wings  of  the  delicate  visions  I  had  nur- 
tured in  scholastic  shades,  wilt  and  curl  up,  as  I  have  seen 
the  dew-flower  petals  beneath  a  flaming  noon.  Ah !  a  grievous 
sickness — almost  unto  death — that  was,  when  I  saw  those 
exquisite  frail  things  all  dying. 

They  were  the  creatures  of  the  soul's  first  spring-time,  of 
softer  glowing  hues,  and  breathing  fresher  odors  than  ever 
come  again ;  and  what  the  su-n  had  spared — when  the  tink- 
ling trample  of  the  curt,  gray  frost  went  over  them — were 
snapped  and  strewn — stark  in  their  own  beauties — dead  ! 
The  glory  and  the  joy  passed  from  the  earth  with  them — a 
huge  desolation  spinning  on  its  poles — I  stood  upon  its  wide 
bla^k,  deaf  and  blind,  with  one  word  burning  in  ghastly  light 
through  darkened  brain  and  soul ! — a  curse  !  It  was  a  pur- 
pose— it  was  a  savage  ecstacy,  to  live  and  curse  all, — God, 
woman,  man !  to  walk  through  life  until  I  chose  to  die,  hating 
and  defiant.  I  laughed  hoarsely  as  I  hugged  the  pleasant 
madness  to  my  heart.  0,  rare  and  mirthfulest  conceit !  Re- 
venge. 

Hate  !  scorn  !  Ha  !  ha  !  I  shouted  in  my  bitterness  ;  right 
royal  brotherhood  for  the  stout  spirit.  What  a  carnival  the 
game  of  life  will  be  to  us — only  we  wont  throw  sugar  plums. 
Z  lie  down  upon  the  grass  and  sob  and  pule  like  a  tripping 
Cupid  over  his  crushed  flowers  ?  Manly  employment  that ! 


276  WILD    SCENES    AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

When  here  is  a  world  swarming  with  fools  to  scorn ;  and  a 
wide  air,  tremulous  with  the  beat  of  hearts,  to  trample  on ;  a 
Universe  pregnant  with  some  hideous  Power  to  be  defied ! 
And  then  the  proud  exultation — to  stalk  on,  beneath  God's 
own  lights,  wronging  his  creatures,  and  taunting  him  to  send 
his  bolts. 

A  new  energy  was  possessing  me.  Life  became  stronger 
than  it  ever  had  been  before,  though  my  body  was  wasting. 
When  the  first  wild  whirl  of  this  delirious  excitement  had 
passed  away,  the  horrible  transformation  was  completed,  for 
an  ashy-pale  cold  twilight,  which  no  sunshine  could  dispel  or 
warm,  had  settled  upon  my  whole  being — an  icy  ring  palpably 
clung  around  my  heart,  which  beat  sharply  and  fast  in  the 
centre — my  forehead  was  cold,  but  the  brain  was  seething 
and  glowing  behind  it. 

I  felt  a  chill,  unnatural,  flaming  in  my  eyes.  I  was  afraid 
to  look  at  them  ;  I  saw  little  children  shrink  in  affright  as 
they  gazed  at  me.  Then  I  knew  there  was  hate  and  hell  in 
them,  and  felt  glad — for  there  was  some  of  the  old  leaven  left 
in  spite  of  me — that  innocence  would  be  alarmed  of  its  own 
instincts,  and  avoid  me.  I  was  stolidly  sullen  or  hysterically 
merry,  and  felt  the  strangest  inclination  to  laugh  when  I  saw 
others  weep.  I  would  hide  my  face  in  my  handkerchief,  and 
laugh  until  my  sides  ached  at  what  were  to  others  the  most 
touching  exhibitions  of  grief. 

I  read  incessantly,  and  out  of  all  literature  managed  to 
extract  the  bitter  waters.  My  sharpened  and  morbid  fancy 
conceived  that  it  could  trace  the  creed  of  the  logician,  with 
its  doubts,  its  sophisms,  and  its  sneers,  through  "  all  records 
of  all  times."  Yet  I  regarded  the  Berkeley,  Volney,  and  Tom 
Paine  school  with  profound  contempt.  These  people  attempted 
— vulgarly  enough — to  "  reason"  themselves  into  atheism  and 
universal  scepticism — nothing  could  have  been  more  absurd ; 
and  Hume  would  have  been  placed  in  the  same  category,  but 
that  he  took  to  sneering;  and  generalization.  Voltaire  was 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS.  277 

the  Bayard  of  these  weapons,  and  his  compeers  learned  to 
vse  them.  Gibbon  possessed  a  subtle  insight,  and  wielded 
the  borrowed  thrust  effectually. 

I  hated  and  scorned  the  Truths  of  Christianity  not  as  "  a 
Reasoner"  but  as  an  Idealist.  I  did  not,  in  my  morbid  mad- 
ness, regard,  though  familiar  with  them,  the  historic  evidences 
of  Christ's  Godship  and  Mission.  Had  the  same  evidence 
proved  that  he  came  in  a  chariot,  with  blazing  worlds  for 
wheels,  and  myriad  legions  of  the  seraphim,  with  fiery  swords 
about  Him,  that  reaped  a  nation  from  the  lap  of  earth,  I 
should  have  been  no  more  impressed  by  it  than  by  the  simple 
story  of  Calvary.  Mere  "  Reason,"  I  saw  plainly  enough,  to 
be  utterly  incompetent  to  deal  with  the  sublimity  of  that 
sacrifice,  as  I  had  seen  it,  and  known  it  to  be,  with  the 
simpler  yet  lofty  devotion  of  common  humanity. 

No ;  regarding  our  world  as  a  mere  infinitesimal  mite  of 
the  Infinite  Universe,  I  impiously  questioned,  why  and  how 
the  creative  and  governing  source  of  these  myriad  worlds 
could  recognize  the  atomies  upon  this  speck  of  his  dominions, 
as  alone  worth  the  sacrifice  of  His  Son,  and  whether  such  a 
sacrifice  had  been  made  for  the  rebels  of  other  worlds ;  and 
recognizing,  too,  in  my  philosophy,  the  separate  entity  of  the 
soul,  and  the  mere  animal  life — I  insanely  demanded  those 
spiritual  evidences  and  revelations  His  followers  professed  to 
receive,  and  which  proved  to  them  that  the  God  of  all  was 
present  here,  regardful  of  every  hair  of  our  heads,  and  even 
of  every  sparrow  that  should  fall  upon  this  molecule  of  space ! 
Unfortunately,  these  evidences  could  never  come  to  such  de- 
mands; with  all  the  travail  of  an  eager  and  presumptuous 
spirit,  they  had  not  yet  appeared.  My  faith,  or  imagination, 
had  been  appealed  to,  yet,  through  nothing  palpable  it  could 
lay  hold  of;  and  the  earnest  logician,  who  starts  with  doubt, 
will  certainly  never  reason  himself  out  of  the  labyrinth.  Tbe 
more  he  reasons  the  more  he  doubts. 

The  beginning  and  the  end  with  him  is  doubt.     He  doubts 


278  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

everything — the  justice  and  the  being  of  God — for  he  mea- 
sures him,  his  entity,  and  his  acts,  by  the  human  standard — 
the  truth  and  virtue  of  his  race — for  he  measures  them  by 
what  he  has  felt  and  realized  to  be  his  own  capabilities  of 
evil ;  and  so  he  goes  on,  until  life — its  purposes,  its  duties, 
its  realities — becomes  to  him  one  vast  lie — a  monstrous  illu- 
sion ;  and  himself,  with  his  passions  and  their  ferocious  crav- 
ings, the  only  actuality — his  own  volition,  the  focal  power 
round  which  and  for  which,  the  universe  revolves.  This 
devouring  egotism — though  more,  in  my  instance,  an  intel- 
lectual, than  a  moral  vice — had  swallowed  up  all  social  ties. 

I  could  recognize  society  now,  only  as  a  masked  battle-field, 
in  which  every  man,  as  captain  of  his  own  passions,  saw  in  each 
fellow  man  he  met  a  sworn  instinctive  foe,  leading  his  own 
cohort  of  selfish  passions  in  the  grand  melee  of  life.  The 
individual  contests,  then,  were  decided  by  the  cool  and  wary 
subtlety  of  the  Olympic  wrestler.  The  genial  virtues,  family 
ties,  friendship,  love,  benevolence,  constituted  the  mere 
masquerade  of  the  great  central  instinct,  selfishness ! 

This  infernal  creed  grew  upon  me,  until  I  became,  in  plain 
words,  a  devil.  Those  who  had  known  me  and  loved  me  as 
the  gay,  frank,  confiding  enthusiast,  stared  at  my  altered  face 
and  relentless  savagery  of  manner — first  in  speechless  astonish- 
ment, and  then  turned  aside  to  weep !  When  I  laughed  at 
and  mocked  their  tears,  they  tried  to  think  me  mad — but  I 
was  too  coolly  and  rationally  brutal  for  that.  They  conld 
not  put  me  in  a  strait  jacket,  but  could  only  wonder  and 
grieve. 

The  very  fiends  of  hell  would  have  been  aghast  at  the 
awful  phantasies  which  came  and  dwelt  with  me  as  matters 
of  course.  I  could  think  of  stabbing  my  own  friend,  as  a 
common-place  thing  to  be  calculated  upon.  I  become  morose 
and  vicious  in  my  temper  until  my  best  friends  avoided  me, 
and  those  who  had  given  inc  cause  for  enmity  would  turn 
aside  from  my  path.  I  had  become  a  downright  nuisance, 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS.  279 

with  my  wicked,  scornful  gibing  at  everything  men  hold 
sacred.  As  to  women — "  to  search  the  bottom  of  annoy," 
and  gall,  and  pain  them  with  the  most  studied  and  cruel  rail- 
lery, was  an  especially  pleasant  recreation — the  enjoyment 
of  which  was  heightened  in  the  precise  ratio  of  their  beauty 
and  wit — or,  as  I  pretended  to  myself,  of  their  power  to 
deceive  and  ruin  the  moral  lives  of  others,  as  mine  had  been 
blasted  by  them..  At  last  I  sickened  of  such  tame  amuse- 
ments. 

I  thirsted — my  blood  was  on  fire  for  sterner  excitements — I 
longed  to  meet  death  face  to  face,  and  look  on  carnage.  It 
was  an  anticipated  ecstacy  of  proud  and  fierce  delight — the 
thought  of  meeting  my  detested  fellows  openly  at  the  weapon's 
point.  I  had  champed  with  the  social  manacles  on,  over  my 
stifled  hate,  until  endurance  was  no  longer  possible.  I  looked 
around  upon  the  world  for  the  scenes  and  circumstances  fitted 
to  the  gratification  of  such  pleasant  humors.  Texas  was  a 
very  paradise  of  monsters — the  vicious,  the  desperate,  the 
social  and  civil  outlaws  of  all  the  world  had  gathered  there. 

Delightful  fraternity  of  devils  ! — they  were  fighting  among 
themselves,  fighting  with  the  Mexicans,  fighting  with  the 
Indians,  and  for  recreation — to  keep  their  hands  in — were 
battling  with  the  wild  beasts.  Charming  existence !  How  it 
attracted  me  !  how  I  yearned  to  participate  in  its  pleasures. 
I  madly  severed  the  few  remaining  ties,  and  started  for  this 
El  Dorado  of  the  ruffian. 

My  friends  saw  me  go,  I  believe,  with  a  mournful  sense  of 
relief.  Though  I  had  been  guilty  of  no  overt  outrage  against 
the  laws  of  society,  yet  my  moral  presence  had  become  pesti- 
lential, and  they  felt  that  the  morbid  disease  which  was 
withering  up  my  soul,  must  find  its  own  cure.  I  found  myself 
in  just  the  element  I  needed  in  this  country.  I  met  with 
men  capable  of  all  I  dared  to  do — as  hard  and  reckless,  as 
God-defying  and  man-hating,  as  could  be  desired.  I  felt  at 
home  and  at  ease  with  such  men — we  understood  each  other ! 


280  WILD    SCEXES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

We  carried  our  lives  in  our  hands — or,  what  is  in  other  words 
the  s<ime  thing — our  weapons. 

It  added  very  much  to  my  relish  of  the  sense  of  being,  the 
consciousness  that  I  could  get  myself  shot  at  any  time  by 
crooking  my  finger.  It  was  a  novel  sensation — the  having 
one's  life  so  entirely  at  our  command — at  least  the  holding  it  in 
such  complete  dependence  upon  one's  prompt  right  arm.  And 
then  the  occasional  divertisement  of  quelling  some  red-handed 
bully — as  cowardly  as  he  was  ferocious.  It  was  a  refreshing 
exultation  to  unmask  such  villains,  and  see  their  white  livers 
paling  through  their  cheeks. 

But  the  life  in  the  cities  and  settlements  was  a  mere  fore- 
taste. I  must  go  to  the  frontier  to  meet  the  dusky  chivalry 
of  the  mountains  on  the  "  Debatable  Ground"  of  the  plains- 
What,  with  the  open  struggle  with  these  wild  warriors,-v_ 
gaunt,  half  naked,  subtle — and  guarding  against  the  secret 
and  murderous  treachery  of  the  Mexican, — I  expected  to  find 
employment  enough,  and  glut  my  passions  with  the  tumult 
of  strange  perils ! 

Perhaps  then  my  blood  would  grow  cooler,  the  fever  might 
go  off,  and  leave  me  thinking  and  feeling  more  as  I  once  did  ! 
for  I  longed  at  times  to  get  back  to  the  ground  I  had  left,  but 
could  not  now !  The  disease  must  have  its  course.  I  was 
plunging  into  all  this  madness  to  get  away  from  my  own  con- 
sciousness, to  hide  from  the  frightful  realization  of  my  own 
doctrines  ! 

I  would  say,  parenthetically,  that  this  recital  is  not  in- 
tended for  the  sleepy,  lymphatic  denizens  of  the  "  namby 
pamby  inane."  Your  "perfect  people,"  who  never  had  a 
sinful  thought,  a  passion  above  beef-steak,  or  a  higher  adven- 
ture than  overturning  a  poor  woman's  apple-stall, — their  very 
blood  would  be  congealed  at  the  idea  of  reading  a  line  from 
the  pen  of  so  wicked  a  wretch  as  I  have  described  myself  to 
have  been.  But  men  and  ivomen  who  have  thought,  felt, 
analyzed,  seen,  acted  and  remembered,  will  recognize  the 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS.  281 

idiosyncracy  of  this  case,  as  set  forth,  to  be  common  to  one 
of  the  necessary  stages  of  the  inner  life's  development.  Suf- 
fice it !  To  the  frontier  I  did  go, — and  now  for  the  story  of 
my  adventurings  there. 

The  incidents  I  am  about  to  give  are  some  of  them  familiar 
to  leading  men  of  Texas,  though  they  have  never  been  related 
in  print.  On  my  way  out  I  had  stopped  to  visit  at  the  house 
of  a  friend,  who  was  a  planter,  living  high  up  on  the  Brazos 
River.  Our  time  was  principally  occupied  in  hunting.  As  I 
had  just  arrived  in  the  country,  the  abundant  sport  afforded 
by  the  numbers  and  variety  of  the  game,  with  which  it  might 
be  said  literally  to  swarm,  afforded  a  diversion  to  my  morbid 
feeling,  and  kept  me  in  a  continued  state  of  eager  excitement. 
I  was  on  my  horse  the  greater  part  of  the  time. 

Though  not  a  raw  woodsman,  so  far  as  making  my  way 
through  the  heavy  forests  of  the  West  was  concerned,  yet 
finding  myself  for  the  first  time  upon  the  vast  and  unaccus- 
tomed expanse  of  the  Southern  Prairies,  I  was  for  a  long 
time  surprised  that  though  excessively  reckless,  I  should  be 
here  much  perplexed,  and  even  timid,  in  attempting  to  find 
my  way. 

The  land-marks  are  so  different,  as  well  as  the  modes  of 
using  them,  from  those  to  which  I  had  been  accustomed,  that 
I  was  frequently  confused  and  overwhelmed  with  awe  on 
finding  myself  left  in  the  vicissitudes  of  the  hunt,  alone  amidst 
the  illimitable  solitudes,  with  no  experienced  eye  to  see  for 
me  the  course,  where  all  was  trackless. 

When  I  would  thus  get  "  turned  round,'"  as  it  is  called, 
and  the  consciousness  that  I  had  lost  my  course,  would  drive 
the  blood  to  my  heart :  the  startled  sense  of  the  revulsion  is 
difficult  to  describe.  Body  and  soul  would  seem  for  a  moment 
as  if  sinking  under  the  weight  of  a  drear  solemnity,  and  then 
the  returning  blood  would  leap  back  to  the  brow,  thrilling  every 
fibre  with  a  shudder.  A  thousand  Stories  of  bloody  deaths 
under  the  reeking  scalping-knife  of  savage  hordes,  met  in  the 


282  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

wide  wilderness  of  plains;  of  confused  circlings  day  by  day, 
always  bringing  the  victim  back  to  his  own  trail,  until  the 
dreary,  lingering  death  of  starvation  relieved  the  bewilder- 
ment ;  of  banded  wolves  with  gaping  jaws,  hungry  yells  and 
tireless  feet,  pursuing  the  uncertain  flight  which  has  be- 
trayed to  their  ferocious  instinct  a  sure  prey  in  the  lost  man ; 
of  grim,  creeping  panthers  springing  from  the  thicket  upon 
the  decpv  sleep  of  his  fruitless  exhaustion ;  of  the  wild,  vague 
and  unutterable  horror  of  lonely,  unavenged  and  unrecorded 
death  in  a  thousand  forms, — until  self-possession  reeled,  and 
the  mad  impulse  was  to  strike  spurs  into  my  ho/se  and  plunge 
blindly  on  amidst  them  all. 

This  singular  sensation  gradually  loses  its  intensity,  when, 
by  a  series  of  happy  accidents,  rather  than  instincts,  we  gain 
more  confidence,  and  it  requires  a  less  forlorn  struggle  to 
recall  ourselves  to  calmness  and  the  cool  consideration  of  the 
position  in  which  we  are  thrown. 

But  let  there  be  as  many  lessons  as  can  well  be  crowded 
into  a  year  or  two  of  such  wild  experiences,  yet  he  is  a  man 
of  very  strong  nerve  who  can,  even  then,  draw  up  his  horse, 
after  a  heated  chase  of  buffalo,  deer,  or  wolf,  or  bear,  and 
not  feel  much  of  this  appalled  startle  when,  the  slaughter 
over,  he  looks  around  with  aching  eyes  for  the  first  time  to 
see  where  he  is. 

A  sinking  sense  of  loneliness  and  awe  is  the  reaction  of  the 
fierce  and  headlong  excitement,  under  which  he  has  been 
hurled,  as  it  were,  he  knows  not  in  what  direction,  or  how 
far.  He  gazes  around  him  in  breathless  silence  and  name- 
less dread  for  awhile ;  the  contrast  of  the  stilless,  r>ow  that 
death  has  intervened,  with  the  crashing,  raging  impetus  which 
brought  him  here,  is  too  oppressive,  and  he  dares  not  make  a 
sound ;  he  almost  shudders  while  the  dim  consciousness  that 
he  has  just  done  murder  in  the  sight  of  his  peaceful  mother, 
Earth,  comes  over  him  reproachfully  amidst  her  voiceless 
calms ;  and  the  whole  forest,  with  its  straight  stems,  the  broad 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS.  283 

plain  with  its  flower  eyes,  the  benignant  sun,  the  wide  air 
itself,  all  seem  for  one  instant  to  have  stood  still  to  gaze  upon 
the  unholy  deed.  There  lies  the  quiet  victim !  He  feels 
their  reproach  as  he  looks  upon  its  fixed,  but  undimmed  eyes. 

He  cannot  stand  all  this.  I  said  it  was  but  for  one  instant, 
and  then  his  habitual  hardness  returns ;  the  awe  he  throws  off 
with  a  sneer ;  the  carcass  is  slung  upon  his  horse,  and  he  turns 
its  head  towards  the  nearest  high  land  to  look  how  the 
country  lies.  If  he  recognizes  no  familiar  land-marks,  and 
he  sees  that  he  is  out  of  his  range,  he  then  takes  his  course 
by  the  direction  of  the  prevailing  winds,  the  moss  upon  the 
trees,  the  position  of  the  sun,  the  course  of  the  streams  or  of  the 
buffalo  trails,  by  the  flight  of  birds,  or  thousand  other  tele- 
graphic characters  which  he  has  learned  to  read. 

But  then  he  has  nevertheless  experienced,  however  briefly, 
this  vague  feeling  of  terror  and  dread,  to  which  we  have  al- 
luded, and  no  one  but  an  old  skinny  Trapper,  whose  whole 
life  has  been  spent  among  the  mountains,  ever  entirely  loses 
this  sensation  on  realizing  that  he  is  lost  in  these  mighty 
solitudes ;  because,  in  the  first  place,  he  is  never  lost,  and  in 
the  next,  if  he  were,  it  would  be  all  the  same  to  him.  He 
can  live  wherever  a  snail,  a  lizzard,  or  a  raven  can  liver 
and  he  cares  little  if  he  never  sees  the  face  of  man  for  a  year 
or  two ;  in  that  time  he  is  sure  to  come  out  somewhere,  even 
if  it  be  on  the  Pacific  coast !  The  deep  gorges  of  the  moun- 
tains afford  him  shelter  and  repose  in  winter ;  the  open  plain 
or  forest  glades  a  couch  in  summer ;  a  rock  is  pillow  soft 
enough  for  him,  and  piping  winds  do  well  for  lullabies,  though 
they  do  bring  the  thunder  for  their  bass ! 

He  starves  until  ravin  makes  him  wild,  and  then  his  rifle 
is  more  inexorable  than  the  bolts  of  death.  The  famishing 
wolf  is  merciful  to  him.  Earth  and  her  creatures  are  nothing, 
now,  but  fuel  and  food  to  glut  his  shriveled  maw.  Blood  ! 
blood  !  Blood  is  to  him  Ambrosia.  The  Nectar  of  the  gods 
would  not  tempt  him  from  the  greasy  esculence  of  "  beaver 


284  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

tail !".  He  is  ecstatic  upon  "  buffalo  hump,"  and  sups  his 
divincst  inspiration  from  a  gourd  of  "bar's  grease."  What 
knows  he,  then,  of  that  "  dim  religious  awe"  within  the 
natural  temples  of  the  Most  High,  at  which  I  have  hinted ! 
Not  he !  He  has  become  in  these  temples  what  the  world 
calls  a  practical  priest,  and  cuts  up  the  "flesh  offerings" 
like  a  saw,  as  harsh  and  as  steely  hard ! 

But  to  return  to  our  story.  The  day's  hunt  had  been  an 
unusually  exciting  one.  We  hunted  deer  after  the  following 
fashion.  These  animals  feed  principally  upon  the  open 
prairie,  but  about  eleven  o'clock,  A.  M.  they  may  be  seen  in 
long  lines  sauntering  towards  the  nearest  wood,  which  usually, 
throughout  Texas,  grows  upon  the  margin  of  the  small  lakes 
or  banks  of  streams. 

They  are  now  going  to  water,  and  repose  in  the  shade 
Tjntil  three  or  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  they  come 
out  to  feed  again.  The  deer  of  the  prairies  is  a  very  swift 
variety,  with  smaller  antlers  than  the  common  buck  of  our 
forests  bears.  We  stationed  ourselves  some  half  a  mile  dis- 
tant in  the  prairie  on  fleet  horses,  some  who  were  most  skilled 
with  the  common  "lasso"  of  the  country,  and  others  with  our 
holster  pistols,  as  in  my  own  case.  A  negro  "  driver,"  as  he 
is  called,  was  then  sent  in  with  dogs  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  wood  to  drive  the  deer  out  upon  the  plain ;  for,  contrary 
to  the  usage  of  the  common  deer,  this  creature  of  the  plains 
makes  always  for  open  ground  directly  when  pursued,  and  we 
awaiting  their  exit  chased  them  by  sight  on  our  horses.  We  had 
but  little  time  to  wait,  for  within  twenty  minutes  out  burst  a 
numerous  herd.  It  was  a  splendid  sight  as  they  came  plunging 
into  the  long  grass  and  sunshine,  out  from  the  dark  shadows 
suddenly,  witli  their  white  throats,  their  "  aritlercd  pride" 
thrown  back,  and  round  ears  laid  sharp  behind  to  hearken 
the  pursuing  cry  of  "  bell-mouthed"  hound.  It  is  one  of  the 
raost  exciting  scenes  I  know  in  the  sports  of  our  country. 

We  reined  up  our  horses  for  the   start ;  bending  forward 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS.  285 

with  eager  eye  and  bounding  pulse  to  wait  the  instant  when 
they  should  have  passed  us  on  their  way  into  the  illimitable 
plain  upon  which  they  trust  to  their  flying  feet  for  safety. 
But  though  those  tiny  hoofs  be  fleet  enough  to  leave  th.e  Red 
Wolf  far  behind,  or  dart  beyond  the  agile  panther's  leap,  yet 
our  good  steeds,  that  champ  and  plunge  impatiently,  are  far 
more  fleet  than  they.  Now  they  go  bounding  by  with  long, 
high  leaps  over  the  tall,  embarrassing  grass,  and  seem  as  if 
they  half  wore  wings,  and  were  afraid  to  use  them.  Now, 
too,  with  a  wild  shout  of  pent-up  excitement,  we  are  off  on 
the  chase,  each  man  selecting  his  special  prey.  There  is 
little  use  for  the  whip  and  spur  in  this  hunt,  for  when  a  horse 
has  once  tasted  its  fierce  and  headlong  pleasures,  he  needs 
no  other  stimulant  after.  They,  like  their  riders,  become 
furious  with  the  excitement,  and  sometimes  will  bite  the  poor 
animal  when  they  come  up  with  it  after  a  long  chase. 

The  broad,  white  tails  of  the  deer  produce  a  droll  effect  as 
they  rise  and  fall  along  the  surface  of  the  grass,  and  serve  as 
a  sort  of  fluttering  beacon  to  the  eye  in  the  early  part  of  the 
run ;  for,  when  they,  at  first  sight  of  you,  fairly  straighten 
themselves  in  their  frightened  speed,  they  leave  horse  and 
rider  far  enough  behind ;  but  this  does  not  last  long ;  they 
are  very  fat  at  this  season,  the  fall,  and  do  not  hold  out  at 
this  rate.  They  soon  begin  to  flag  from  the  heat  and  dragging 
weight  of  the  grass,  which  is  now  nearly  as  high  as  their  backs. 
We  gradually  close  upon  them,  and  the  herd  begins  to  break 
up,  scattering  here  and  there  and  everywhere.  Your  eye 
has  become  fixed  upon  a  particular  one,  a  noble  buck,  whose 
powerful  form  has  attracted  you.  Your  horse  has  caught 
the  same  object,  and  divines  you  well  as  he  turns  his  head  to 
follow  it,  without  regard  to  the  course  taken  by  the  rest. 

Now  the  excitement  becomes  a  delirium  of  action;  and  a3 
you  find  yourself  farther  separated  from  the  other  sounds  of 
the  chase,  your  own  individual  par sions  become  more  and  more 
intensified  upon  the  immediate  object  before  you,  and  you 


286  WILD    SCENES   AND    WILD   HUNTERS. 

rush,  on,  you  know  not  whither.  My  game  on  this  day  proved 
to  be  much  more  long-winded  and  powerful  than  usual,  and  I 
had,  as  the  consequence,  a  tremendous  race  of  it  before  I 
began  to  gain  very  rapidly  upon  its  flight.  At  length  the 
buck  began  to  make  leaps  a  little  less  long  and  high,  and  my 
horse,  by  this  time  thoroughly  heated  in  the  run,  to  snort 
with  eagerness  as  he  let  out  an  additional  link  or  two  of 
speed.  I  closed  rapidly  with  the  quarry,  and  loosened  my 
holsters  for  the  shot  which  was  to  close  the  scene.  Now  my 
horse,  with  ears  laid  back,  closes  up  alongside,  and  with 
trembling  haste  the  pistol  is  snatched  from  the  holster.  With 
all  its  desperate  speed  we  almost  touch  the  hair  with  the 
muzzle  before  we  fire — between  the  shoulders — and  it  is  down ! 
— tumbling,  in  the  impulse  of  its  flight,  forward  with  broken 
neck  bent  beneath  the  body. 

It  is  over !  We  are  silent  and  still.  The  bloody  work  is 
finished,  and  I  look  around  for  the  first  time  to  see  where  I 
am,  or  what  is  in  sight.  I  am  amongst  a  wild  Archipelago 
of  islands,  or  "  motts"  of  timber,  with  long,  irregular  vistas 
stretching  between  them  in  all  directions.  My  victim  lies  at 
my  feet  quiet  enough  now.  The  strong  breeze  cools  my 
heated  forehead.  The  hush  is  profound  at  first,  for  every 
voice  of  nature  has  been  frightened  into  silence  by  the  violent 
scene  which  had  just  occurred  to  desecrate  a  peaceful  home ; 
but  gradually,  before  my  confused  sense  has  time  to  realize 
the  scene,  the  rap,  rap,  rapping  of  a  wood-pecker's  hammer 
stole  timidly  out  from  the  nearest  "mott,"  and  then  sound 
after  sound,  resumed  in  the  same  low  key,  hesitated  forth 
from  bird  and  insect,  showing  that  Nature  was  yet  alive, 
although  just  now  so  appalled. 

I  gazed  around — with  something  of  the  dim  confused  per- 
ception of  one  awakening  from  the  deep  sleep  of  troubled  dream 
—  into  the  lengthening  vistas  stretching  by  uncertain  glimpses 
into  remotest  distance — when  gradually  the  overwhelming  rea- 
lization of  the  vastness  came  upon  me,  arid  then  the  shudder- 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS.  287 

ing  consciousness  that  I  was  lost! — as  utterly  lost  as  if  I  had 
just  dropped  upon  the  planet  from  the  moon,  with  a  piece  of 
green  cheese  in  my  fist.  I  had  lost  all  idea  of  course,  dis- 
tance, or  time  during  the  chase,  and  now  was  completely 
"turned  round."  I  immediately  felt  the  full  dangers  of  my 
situation.  I  knew  the  direction  in  which  we  had  started,  but 
knew,  too,  as  well,  that  from  the  numerous  turns  the  chase 
had  taken,  that  I  could  no  more  tell  which  Avay  to  start  back 
than  if  I  had  been  physically  blind,  as  I  had,  in  fact,  been 
mentally  so. 

I  had  imprudently  come  out  without  a  pocket  compass,  and 
was  a  young  woodsman  lost  upon  strange  plains.  I  did  not 
know  enough  of  the  geography  of  the  country  to  render  what 
knowledge  I  had  of  natural  signs  of  any  avail  to  me  here.  I 
was,  in  a  word,  sufficiently  panic-struck  to  act  more  like  the 
inexperienced  person  that  I  was,  than  with  the  self-possession 
these  circumstances  so  much  required.  My  heart  beat  very 
loud  and  fast  as  I  wheeled  my  horse,  and  with  a  sultry  feeling 
of  recklessness,  spurred  him  into  one  of  the  narrow  openings, 
without  stopping  one  moment  to  consider  which  way  or  whither 
it  should  lead  me.  The  poor  deer  I  left  upon  the  spot  where 
it  fell,  for  I  was  too  much  startled  to  think  of  dissecting  it 
now — -since,  of  all  the  terrible  fates  that  could  ever  befall  a 
human  being,  this  of  being  lost  in  such^a  country,  had  always 
been  most  formidable  to  me. 

I  had  known  of  so  many  instances  of  terrible  suffering  and 
dreary  death  from  such  a  cause,  at  this  early  time, — when 
even  individual  settlements  were  sometimes  eighty  or  a  hun- 
dred miles  apart  in  the  direction  of  Galveston,  and  none  in 
the  opposite  direction  for  thousands, — that  now  the  chill 
revulsion  seemed  first  like  present  annihilation,  and  then 
like  such  remote  and  undefined  suffering  as  was  far  more 
formidable ;  so  I  urged  on  vaguely — hoping  nothing,  trusting 
nothing,  but  simply  asking  for  action  to  distract — and  a  crisis 
to  end  the  suspense. 


288  WILD  SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTFRS. 

My  horse  apparently  sympathized  with  my  terror  and 
despair,  for  he  rushed  on  with  a  frightened  speed,  which  at 
any  other  time  would  have  been  frightful,  hut  now  was  only 
congenial.  I  recognized  no  object  that  we  passed — each 
melted  into  the  other,  forming  on  either  hand  a  sort  of  back- 
running  liquefaction  of  mountain  and  tree,  of  plain  and  sky, 
that  seemed  to  be  keeping  time  with  my  motion.  I  was 
riding  through  a  dim  land,  where  nothing  looked  real  but  all 
infinite — where  the  end  was  I  did  not  know. 

It  was  not  long  before  I  gained  the  open  plain,  upon  which 
there  was,  indeed,  nothing  but  grass  and  horizon,  but  which 
appeared  to  me  the  wide  end  of  all  things.  It  was  like  gal- 
loping on  clouds  toward  the  moon  or  "  the  juniping-off  place" 
— the  distance  seemed  so  inappreciable  !  yet  I  urged  on. 
The  grass  sparrow  chirped  and  flitted,  I  suppose, — the  deer 
turned  round  to  stare,  no  doubt, — the  partridge  roared  its 
sudden  under-bass  of  wings  and  skimmed  away,  bending  the 
grass-tops  with  its  windy  whirr,  for  all  I  know,  but  yet  I  saw 
them  not  but  as  we  see  swift  shadows  in  a  stormy  dream.  I 
shouted  like  a  crazy  man. 

I  fired  my  other  pistol  in  the  air,  in  the  hope  that  some 
of  the  party  of  hunters  might  hear  it — then  I  paused  to 
listen.  My  frightened  and  impatient  horse  would  chafe  and 
plunge  for  a  moment,  and  again,  as  if  divining  why  I  paused, 
would  be  still  as  death ;  and  now  with  pricked  ears,  pointed 
stifily  here  and  there,  seem  listening  round  him  for  a  sound — • 
and  then  would  snuff  the  breeze  with  his  wide,  eager  nostrils, 
and  with  an  impulse,  headlong  and  impatient  as  my  own, 
bound  onward — as  the  steady,  winging  raven  that  followed, 
over  head,  our  course,  croaked  an  answer  that  sounded  so 
like  self-congratulation. 

Away !  away  !  away  !  and  still  no  sight — and  still  no  sound 
that  carne  to  us  with  any  promise — a  herd  of  mustangs  would 
sourry  off,  snorting  as  we  passed — a  s(.|uad  of  buffaloes,  wheel- 
ing sharp  about,  and  like  hogsheads  inspired  of  hoofs,  with 


THE   TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  289 

tails  stuck  straight  in  air,  go  lumber  away  over  the  shaking 
plain — but  nothing  like  human  form  appeared.  The  first 
madness  had  passed  off — the  instinct  of  the  love  of  life  had 
assumed  its  place,  and  the  blurred  vision  had  become  intensi- 
fied by  the  sharpening  apprehension  which  the  physical 
brought,  of  thirst,  hunger  and  exhaustion. 

I  saw  objects  clearly  now.  Every  line  in  the  horizon  was 
distinctly  defined,  and  conveyed  to  me  a  sort  of  hope.  All 
things,  indeed,  took  their  relations  again,  and  I  was  unfright- 
ened  into  calm.  I  knew  my  danger,  in  detail,  and  saw  every 
blade  of  grass  that  marked  my  way  towards — what  ?  I  heard 
the  odd  ejaculation  of  the  long-necked  blue  cranes  explode 
upon  the  silonce  like  a  distant  pistol  shot — I  saw  the  flowers 
bend,  and  the  meadow  lark,  with  its  dark  feather-heart  out- 
side its  musical  breast,  bound  up  from  the  grass  with  its  low 
fluttering  flight,  to  sing  on  wing  most  sweetly,  of  all  joy, 
though  filled  with  fear.  The  very  sand  rat  that  had  darted 
with  a  faint  squeak  to  its  hole,  I  saw  peep  forth  again  as  I 
went  past,  so  minutely  did  my  vision  take  in  everything  now. 

I  had  ridden  on  for  several  hours,  the  country  at  each 
moment  becoming  still  more  strange.  There  were  no  objects 
in  which  I  could  detect  the  slightest  degree  of  familiarity — 
my  horse  was  beginning  to  fail,  and  dreading  lest  he  would 
give  out  beneath  me,  I  reined  him  up.  This  would,  indeed, 
be  a  fate  too  terrible  to  contemplate — being  left  on  foot  in 
the  midst  of  these  great  plains !  I  got  down  and  stroked  his 
panting  sides  and  walked  with  him  for  an  hour,  until  he 
seemed  to  be  regaining  his  strength  somewhat,  for  the  morn- 
ing's work  had  been  tremendous,  as  I  in  my  unrecking 
despair,  had  kept  him  urged  to  nearly  the  top  of  his  speed 
during  this  foolish  ride.  Fortunately,  he  was  one  of  those 
game  and  indomitable  horses  formed  by  crossing  the  mustang, 
which  is  an  Arab,  upon  the  larger-boned  Northern  horse,  or 
he  could  never  have  survived  such  a  run. 

19 


290  WILD  SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

I  had  supposed  that  my  only  chance  of  escape  lay  in  keep- 
ing one  direction,  for,  that  circling  commenced,  each  turn 
made  lessened  the  chances.  But  now  that  I  came  to  reason 
somewhat  coolly  about  my  position,  it  became  apparent  to  me, 
that  in  this  time  I  had,  in  pursuing  this  straight  line,  passed 
over  more  than  treble  the  possible  distance  to  the  plantation 
of  my  friend,  and  that,  of  course,  I  must  therefore  either  have 
taken  the  wrong  direction  or  have  passed  it  without  observing. 
Then  commenced  that  fatal  series  of  doubts,  fears,  surmises, 
trials,  in  this  and  that  direction,  which  is  usually  the  indica- 
tion of  syncope  in  this  disease  of  getting  lost.  Each  failure 
only  bewilders  you  the  more — each  turn  makes  "  confusion 
worse  confounded."  But,  nevertheless,  some  change  had  be- 
come necessary.  I  might  be  every  moment  going  away  from 
the  reach  of  help — getting  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  track- 
less waste  !  But  which  way  shall  I  turn  ?  I  now  remembered, 
for  the  first  time,  that  I  had  failed  to  trust  any  thing  to  my 
horse  in  choosing  my  direction. 

If  I  had  done  so  in  the  first  place,  the  chances  were  that 
the  extraordinary  instinct  possessed  by  many  of  these  animals, 
would  have  carried  me  right !  I  have,  in  frequent  instances, 
found  this  instinct  infallible,  especially  when  the  animal  was 
closely  crossed  upon  the  Arab  blood.  That  noble  race,  which 
bore  the  earliest  children  of  Ham  in  the  chase  across  the 
shifting  deserts,  inherits  all  the  strange  instincts,  with  regard 
to  courses  and  distances,  which  the  wild  and  perilous  uses  of 
their  hunter-lords  developed  in  them,  through  the  centuries 
which  have  developed  as  well  our  civilization.  They  are, 
therefore,  best  suited,  until  the  camel  comes,  to  traverse  with 
security  the  "  unhoused  wilderness"  of  the  great  south-west. 
That  wonderful  animal  has  not  yet  been  introduced  upon 
these  plains,  although  much  has  been  done  by  myself  and 
others  to  awaken  public  attention  to  its  importance.  Such 
an  advent  will  entirely  revolutionize  the  commerce  and  travel 


THE   TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  291 

of  the  plains.  The  camel  must  carry  our  civilization  over 
these  deserts,  as  it  has  brought  that  of  the  ancient  east  upon 
its  uncouth  back  towards  the  triumphing  West. 

I  stopped  my  horse  entirely,  and  dropping  the  reins  upon 
his  back,  urged  him  slightly  with  my  spurs — very  slightly. 
When  he  found  himself  free,  he  shook  his  head  to  realize  it, 
and  then,  stopping,  turned  his  gaze  around  and  around  him 
several  times — but  yet  he  seemed  to  be  bewildered,  and  only 
moved  hesitatingly,  first  in  this  direction  and  then  in  that. 
If  he  had  taken  his  course  at  once,  I  should  have  felt  some 
hope — but  my  heart  sank  in  me  as  I  saw  from  his  manner 
that  he  felt  what  was  expected  of  him,  but  had  become  con- 
fused. Had  he  taken  any  particular  direction  and  pursued 
it  steadily,  with  accelerated  speed,  I  should  have  been  entirely 
secure,  because  then  I  would  have  been  impressed  that  he 
knew  he  was  right,  and  could  ultimately  bear  us  through. 
His  hesitation,  however,  convinced  me  that  I  was  as  utterly 
lost  as  ever  rudderless  ship,  without  a  compass,  was  upon  a 
shoreless  sea — but  yet  I  felt,  too,  that  I  had  better  trust  to 
him  than  to  myself.  My  imagination  had  confused  me,  while 
physical  exhaustion  had  rendered  his  instinct  too  insecure. 

He  was  evidently  as  afraid  of  being  trusted  as  I  to  trust. 
However,  after  a  pause  of  a  few  moments,  he  moved  on, 
turning  back  nearly  in  the  direction  we  had  come.  At  first 
I  was  pleased  with  this  selection,  as  it  seemed  to  indicate  the 
possible  truth  of  my  own  surmise,  that  I  had  started  nearly 
right,  but  had  passed  the  plantation.  This  poor  consolation, 
however,  did  not  outlive  the  approach  of  night,  which  came 
in  heavy  shadows,  portending  a  storm,  such  as  thunders  and 
rages  along  these  southern  plains  occasionally.  My  miserable 
horse  was  now  nearly  exhausted,  and  staggered  as  he  dragged 
his  limbs  heavily  through  the  high  grass.  We  were  still  in 
the  prairie  with  nothing  around  us  but  the  grea.t  ocean  of 
grass,  which  was  beginning  to  toss  and  sway  with  the  advance 
winds  of  the  coming  tornado. 


292  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

The  black  heaven  of  clouds  came  rolling  up  out  of  the 
south-east,  and  already  I  felt  the  cold  breath  that  drove 
it  on,  dash  with  a  fresh  heavy  chill  against  my  face,  like 
the  spray  of  a  cataract.  The  rush  and  roar  that  followed  left 
me  no  time  for  thought.  In  a  moment,  horse  and  man  wcro 
prostrate,  helpless  along  the  plain. 

Such  crashes  ! — such  tremendous  claps — such  sheeting  the 
horizon  with  swift  piercing  blazes — such  beating,  crushing 
floods,  that  but  seemed  a  better  medium  to  transmit  the 
mighty  clangor  hurled  around  by  the  strong  wind,  with 
vast  black  clouds  that  dipped  and  spun  like  flakes  of  ebon 
down,  or  sudden  fire  above !  Such  an  image  of  sublimest 
anarchy  never  before  came  to  overwhelm  an  already  desperate, 
wearied,  and  starving  wanderer.  I  clutched  at  the  strong 
rooted  grass  in  the  blindness  of  my  astound,  and  knew  not, 
in  the  horrid  tumult,  that  my  horse  had  fallen  upon  my  leg. 

I  was  so  stunned  that  I  did  not  feel  the  pain.  I  tried  to 
look  up  to  understand  the  awful  clamor.  Was  the  last  day 
come  ?  Had  some  God  descended  in  the  terror  of  his  might  ?  A 
keen  shaft,  in  clattering  zigzag,  would  pierce  the  chaos,  blind- 
ing as  it  illuminated.  The  crashing  of  torn  limbs,  caught  up 
miles  away,  and  projected  with  the  flooding  rain — the  stifling 
grass-tops,  torn  and  hurled  into  my  face — the  bellowing  moan 
of  frightened  buffaloes — the  shaking  trample  of  their  strug- 
gling feet,  all  came  commingled,  as  the  only  interludes  to  my 
confused  senses. 

My  horse,  at  last,  as  terror-stricken  as  myself,  burst  forth, 
while  he  lay  writhing  upon  my  crushed  leg,  into  a  wild  and 
strangely  harrowing  cry — peculiar  to  these  animals  when 
overcome  by  panic — and  which  now  rose  a  weird  shriek  of 
agony  into  the  tempest.  I  had  never  heard  it  before,  and 
could  not  know  its  source;  and  the  sudden  coming  of  this 
shrill  and  unimaginable  cry  so  close  to  my  head,  had  an  effect 
of  the  supernatural  so  absolutely  appalling,  that  I  fainted, 
und  remember  nothing  more  until  the  steady  blazing  of  the 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS.  293 

early  sunlight  upon  my  eyes  waked  me  to  a  sense  of  pain, 
weakness,  and  astonishment,  amounting  almost  to  fright — for 
stooping  over  me  was  one  of  the  most  unexpectedly  strange 
figures  that  it  had  ever  been  my  fortune  yet  to  encounter. 
"  He's  coming-to — the  poor  boy  !" 

This  was  spoken  in  a  tone  that  startled  me  for  some  reason 
— I  did  not  know  what — entirely  apart  from  the  circum- 
stances, and  the  unexpectedness  of  hearing  a  human  voice  at 
all,  after  and  amidst  such  scenes.  I  looked  up.  What  a  ft  e! 
Storm-seamed  and  bronzed,  it  was  clearly  a  woman's  bust — 
a  woman's  face ! — that  leaned  over  and  looked  kindly  down 
upon  me  from  beneath  a  sort  of  half  cap  and  half  hood  of 
fawn's  skin,  with  the  spotted  hair  turned  out. 

"  You  are  not  wanting  of  a  wet  bed  to  make  you  grew — my 
green  youngster !  What  in  the  Lord's  name  brought  you 
here,  child?" 

The  sort  of  half-grim  pleasantry  with  which  this  was  spoken, 
as  I  opened  my  eyes  fully  upon  her,  relieved  to  some  decree 
my  startled  feeling  of  apprehension,  and  I  faltered  out  feebly, 
with  an  attempt  at  cleverness  : — 

"  I  suppose  I  was  blown  here — or  fell  from  the  clouds  !" 
She  assisted  me  to  a  sitting  posture  with  her  strong  hand. 

"Nonsense!  nonsense,  boy! — your  own  foolish  hastiness 
brought  you  here  !  get  up  ! — Ah  !  I  see  you  cannot  rise  yet ! 
But  you  are  hungry,  perhaps  ! — I'll  give  you  a  slice  of  m  fino 
a  buck  as  ever  was  killed,  and  the  taste  of  which  one  w  uld 
think  you  ought  to  know !" 

She  drew  forward  a  small  wallet  of  dressed  skin  that  was 
slung  behind  her  singular  costume  of  the  same  material,  and 
took  from  it  some  pieces  of  roasted  venison,  with  which  she 
presented  me.  As  I  clutched  them  with  a  half-famishing 
eagerness,  a  low,  quiet  laugh  from  this  personage  caused  me 
to  look  up  at  her  again  with  a  droll  feeling  of  curiosity,  which 
even  excessive  hunger  could  not  repress. 

"Taste  it,  boy!  taste   it!     He!  he!  he! — you  ought  tc 


294  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

know  that  meat!"  and  she  stooped  to  pick  a  rifle  from  the 
wet  grass ;  and  while,  continuing  to  chuckle,  she  examined 
carefully  the  neat  lock,  I  could  see  her  whole  figure  fully  as  1 
ate.  The  form  was  unmistakeably  that  of  a  genuine  woman. 
The  figure,  about  five  feet  seven,  had  nothing  of  Amazonian 
stoutness  at  all  apparent,  although  the  manner  in  which  the 
rifle  was  held  and  handled,  would  naturally  lead  one  to  sup- 
pose that  those  limbs  must  be  very  compact,  indeed.  The 
general  outline,  although  obscured  by  the  rude  drapery,  gave 
you  the  idea  of  that  swift  tenacity  which  roun  1.  small  bone 
and  taut-strung  thews  express  in  the  young  Indian  runner  of 
the  North,  without  destroying  a  sort  of  "formidable  grace" 
in  its  flexible  natural  movement. 

You  were  surprised,  and  yet  you  were  not,  that  she  should 
be  a  woman  of  our  own  race.  The  features  were  plain,  and 
here  the  lines  were  a  little  sharp,  though  not  unmatronly. 
altogether.  There  was  an  expression  of  care,  not  faded,  but 
eager,  anxious,  longing.  The  eye  seemed  so  calm  and  frank, 
quick,  open,  large  and  blue,  that  that  you  could  never  have 
conceived  the  finely  arched  eye-brow  as  darkening  of  itself, 
but  simply  as  drawn  down  by  the  possible  contracting  of  a 
"  dreary  mouth  austere"  below.  In  a  word,  with  her  tanned, 
self-possessed  face,  her  hair  slightly  tinged  with  gray,  her  half- 
hunter  and  half  Indian-woman  costume,  her  concise  lacrnia-je, 
her  sudden  appearance,  she  was  to  me  the  most  extraordinary 
mortal  phenomenon  I  had  yet  met  with-  I  was  too  hungry 
to  philosophize  or  speculate,  so  there  was  nothing  left  me  to 
do  but  live  in  the  exhausted  present,  and  wait  for  the  future 
to  enlighten  me  concerning  her. 

She  leaned  the  gun,  re-covering  the  lock  with  a  buck's  skin 
guard,  carefully  against  my  saddle,  which  I  observed  upon 
the  grass,  and  seeming  to  be  satisfied  from  her  inspection  that 
the  tube  was  all  right  and  the  cap  now  entirely  dry,  she 
walked  towards  my  horse,  merely  saying, — "  Sleep  again, 
boy,  and  you  will  be  ready !"  The  curt  injunction  seemed 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS.  295 

almost  unnecessary,  for  the  unconquerable  drowsiness  which 
follows  eating,  after  long  hunger  and  excessive  fatigue  and 
excitement,  was  already  upon  me ;  and  the  last  I  saw  of  her 
she  was  standing  by  the  side  of  my  horse  with  caressing  words 
and  gestures  as  he  nibbled  feebly  at  the  grass  amidst  which 
he  stood,  with  an  uncertain  sort  of  air,  as  if  he  would  just  as 
soon  lay  down  again,  or  rather  fall  down  ! — as  not ! 

When  I  awoke  again,  the  sun  was  getting  low,  and  its 
shadows  even  fell  over  the  damp  bed  upon  which  I  had  fallen. 
I  raised  myself  to  a  sitting  posture  with  a  vigor  apparently 
renewed,  as  I  felt  for  the  moment  the  deepest  astonishment 
and  mystified  enough  by  what  had  been  occurring.  It  all 
seemed  like  a  dream.  It  could  not  be  real !  There  was  a 
vague  image  of  a  strange  woman  with  a  rifle  in  her  hand, 
struggling  through  my  brain,  and  I  tried  to  remember  her 
cool,  patronizing  words,  and  her  plain,  remarkable  face,  with 
the  fawn-skin  hood,  and  her  hardy  looking  figure,  with  its 
anomalous  dress  of  buck-skin ;  but  it  all  seemed  too  unreal, 
and  I  found  myself  standing  erect,  with  a  sort  of  smiling  con- 
sciousness that  I  had  been  having  a  very  ridiculous  dream ; 
because,  there  was  my  noble  gray  standing  the  usual  distance 
off  in  the  deep  grass,  and  browsing  as  if  he  expected  a  long 
day's  work,  and  was  laying  in  the  necessary  supply  of  pro- 
vender therefor. 

To  be  sure,  the  grass  seemed  strangely  levelled  and  twirled 
about,  and  it  was  odd  what  a  number  of  twigs  and  limbs  of 
trees  lay  strewed  around,  considering  there  was  nothing  like 
a  tree  in  sight ;  but  yet  I  could  make  nothing  out  of  it.  How 
came  my  saddle  off?  How  came  Gray  to  look  so  comfortable  ? 
How  came  I  so  lame  in  my  left  leg  that  I  could  not  step  more 
than  half  an  inch  at  a  time  after  I  got  up,  with  a  sort  of 
numbed  struggle,  to  my  feet,  and  realized  the  extent  and 
dreariness  of  the  devastation  in  the  midst  of  which  I  stood? 
The  prairie  presented  the  appearance  of  a  thousand  mael- 
Btromes  congealed  into  green  stillness,  humbled  by  a  Higher 


296  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

Power  as  a  fixed  expression  of  abasement,  with  all  the  broken, 
jagged  wrecks  left  obtrusive,  sticking  here  and  there  and 
everywhere,  just  as  they  had  been  hurled  in  the  rash  rebellion 
that  had  provoked  it. 

What  a  scene  of  desolation  for  a  dreaming  man  to  awake  to 
realize  ?  I  had  risen  from  a  blanket !  It  seemed  as  if  I  must 
have  gone  to  sleep  quite  considerately  ! — there  were  evidences 
about  me  of  my  having  partaken  of  food, — the  proof  was  in 
the  vigor  that  I  felt  in  spite  of  my  lameness !  and  then  the 
whole  terrible  scene  of  the  storm  came  back  to  me  as  I  brushed 
my  forehead  impetuously  with  my  hand.  Ha  !  ha  ! — I  have 
it  all! — That  woman!  I  turned  my  head,  and  there  stood 
the  strange  figure,  leaning  on  her  rifle,  within  ten  feet  of  me, 
chuckling  inwardly  at  my  bewilderment,  with  that  same  cool 
smile ! 

"Young  man,  are  you  ready  now?"  she  asked,  suddenly. 
I  was  still  somewhat  bewildered,  and  answered,  "  Ready  for 
what  ?" 

"To  go  with  me  !"  was  the  abrupt  reply. 

"  But  go  where  ?  What  would  you  have  me  to  do  ?  Who  are 
you?  Are  you  man  or  woman?" 

"  What  is  that  to  you,  childish  boy  ?  Your  questions  are 
foolish.  I  have  saved  your  life  and  wish  to  preserve  it  far- 
ther ;  you  can  never  get  out  of  this  wilderness  in  your  present 
condition.  I  will  take  you  home  with  me  until  you  are  j  e- 
covered  sufficiently." 

"But,  have  you  a  home?"  I  said,  pertinaciously. 

"Am  I  a  wild  beast?"  she  answered,  taking  off  the  strange 
head-dress,  and  showing  a  pure  white  brow,  the  feminine  lines 
of  which  contrasted  curiously  with  the  dark,  seamed  bronze 
beneath.  She  smiled,  I  thought  a  little  proudly,  as  she  re- 
placed it,  and  advanced  towards  my  horse  for  the  purpose  of 
equipping  him,  which  was  done  with  perfect  dexterity.  She 
then  led  him  to  my  side. 

"Now,  boy,  will  you  mount?" 


THE  TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  297 

"How  can  I!  I  can  scarcely  move." 

"  0,  never  mind !  your  leg  is  not  broken.  I  can  help 
you!" 

So  without  more  ado,  she  lifted  me  into  the  saddle,  with 
perfect  ease  to  herself,  but  great  agony  to  me.  When  once 
in  the  saddle,  the  pain  subsided  in  a  measure.  She  pointed 
me  the  course,  and  walking  by  my  side,  held  my  leg  gently, 
so  as  to  ease  its  position  as  much  as  possible.  This  conside- 
rate kindness  had  a  most  soothing  effect  upon  me,  and  the 
simple  act  greatly  alleviated  my  pain  and  restored  ine  to  con- 
fidence,— singular  as  had  been  the  circumstances  of  this  ren- 
contre. I  was  even  moved  to  speak  to  her  as  to  a  human 
being ;  for  in  my  disturbed  state  she  had  really  appeared 
a  doubtful  sort  of  being.  I  was  not  over  clear  in  my  mind 
as  to  where  she  came  from,  nor  over  sure  what  to  expect  from 
her ;  but  this  little  act  convinced  me  that  I  must  be  in  good 
hands,  at  least,  however  unaccountable  the  use  they  were 
apparently  put  to  might  seem. 

She  appeared  to  comprehend  the  sort  of  dubiousness  of 
feeling  with  which  I  had  become  possessed,  and  answered  the 
question : — • 

"  How  far  is  this  home  of  yours  ?" 

"  0  !  it  isn't  in  a  hole  in  the  ground,  in  a  hollow  tree,  or 
in  a  cave,  as  you  will  see!" 

"  Then,  how  far  is  it  to  C 's  plantation  ?"  (My 

friend's.) 

"  You  will  find  it  far  enough  to  need  whole  limbs  to  reach  it." 

"  But  how  far  may  that  be  ?" 

"  Boy !  we  have  no  surveyors  here,  with  their  steel  chains 
laid  along  the  earth,  emblematic  of  the  slavery  to  which  it  ia 
doomed,  to  measure  our  miles  for  us.  We  measure  them  by 
our  own  free  strides  !" 

"  But  that  is  no  answer  !" 

"Ask  no  questions!  I  will  show  you  when  it  is  tinie 
enough  for  you  to  go  !" 


298  "WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

This  was  spoken  with  a  sort  of  petulance,  mangled  with 
solemnity ;  and,  as  if  declining  further  conversation,  she  urged 
on  my  horse  and  strode  more  rapidly,  not  forgetting  her  ten- 
der care  of  my  leg,  though  she  had  dropped  her  head  moodily 
upon  her  breast.  I  was  compelled  into  silence,  of  course, 
but  this  abrupt  sort  of  manner  roused  my  pride  somewhat. 

I  recalled  the  frequency  with  which  she  had  spoken  to  me 
as  a  "boy,"  "child,"  &c.,  with  some  spleen,  as  I  rode  on  in 
sulky  silence,  too.  Why,  I  was  a  young  man  of  twenty-one, 
and  thought  myself  somebody  !  What  was  there  entitling  any- 
body to  call  me  by  diminutive  names,  in  the  stupid  fact  of  my 
having  got  lost  in  a  country  of  which  I  knew  so  little ?  "I 
dislike  this  sort  of  patronage,  even  if  she  has  got  some  streaks 
of  gray  in  her  hair ;  she  is  not  so  oldish-looking  after  all,  as 
to  entitle  her  to  speak  like  the  mother  of  Methusalch,  even 
if  she  did  drag  me  from  under  my  horse  when  I  was  uncon- 
scious !"  so  I  muttered  to  myself  in  a  really  childish  spleen, 
the  secret  of  which  was  mingled  of  mortified  vanity  and  baf- 
fled curiosity.  As  she  remained  silent,  I  was  foolish  enough  to 
give  way  to  this  feeling  at  last. 

"Why  do  you  persist  in  calling  me  'child,'  'boy,'  and  the 
like  names  ?" 

"Because  you  are  a  child!"  and  she  looked  up  into  my 
face  with  a  quick  glance  that  had  an  expression  of  sternness 
in  it,  above  that  compressed  mouth,  that  I  shall  never  forget. 

"  Mere  boy  as  you  are,  you  think  you  arc  a  man  ! — you 
might  pass  well  enough  in  the  tinselled  dens  and  reeking 
sinks  of  civilization !  Perhaps  you  are  a  boy-man  !"  This 
was  said  with  a  slight  sneer  that  cut  me  to  the  very  core. 

"But,  remember! — it  requires  something  more  than  mere 
years — the  vital  breath  of  which  has  been  poisoned — to  make  a 
man  out  here,  in  the  presence  of  the  ALMIGHTY,  worthy  to  look 
up  into  his  solemn  Infinite,  where  Nature  is  the  only  delegated 
Presence  !  You  must  have  wiser  and  riper  experience,  than 
those  which  caused  a  brave  young  man — no  doubt ! — to  start 


THE  TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  299 

like  a  madman  across  the  plains,  merely  because  he  considered 
himself  lost, — without  taking  time  to  cut  the  throat  of  the 
deer  he  had  just  shot,  or  to  cooly  examine  his  immediate 
neighborhood, — when,  in  that  event,  he  might  have  seen  me 
step  forth,  whose  eye  had  been  upon  him,  and  relieve  him 
from  all  trouble.  You  need  to  trust  Nature  more,  and  through 
her  learn  to  trust  yourself !  She  is  full  of  amenities,  and  in 
the  mild  grandeur  of  her  moods  is  merciful  to  all  but  human 
weakness.  As  she  represents  all  that  we  know  of  God's 
physical  to  us,  we  must  trust  her  in  such  relations  as  we  trust 
him  in  the  spiritual.  You  are  old  enough  and  know  enough 
to  have  found  your  way  back  to  your  friends,  if  you  had 
stopped  to  think  a  moment. 

"  You  did  not  trust, — and  though  you  might  not  have  fled 
from  mortal  foe,  you  did  fly  from  your  own  imaginations,  for 
I  was  an  unseen  witness  !  I  saw  you  scurry  off,  and  before 
I  understood  the  cause,  you  were  beyond  the  reach  of  any 
sound  I  could  produce.  I  laughed,  and  pitied  you, — but 
found  you  this  morning  by  accident." 

"  You  are  a  strange  person !  What  is  the  meaning  of  all 
these  things  you  say  to  me?" 

"  Meaning,  boy  ?  That  you  children  of  civilization  imagine 
yourselves  educated  when  you  have  talked  with  books  in 
clingy  closets,  and  grown  pale  in  the  stagnant  air  in  which 
your  morbid  dreams  are  generated,  along  with  dull  diseases ! 
You  have  only  commenced  the  true  life.  Neither  the  physi- 
cal or  spiritual  are  yet  developed  in  you,  although  you  may 
be  what  you  call  learned!" 

"  That  I  disclaim !"  I  could  not  help  saying,  with  false 
and  unnecessary  modesty. 

"  Then,  it  is  nothing  to  your  credit !  One  kind  of  learn- 
ing is  as  necessary  as  another  !"  she  continued,  with  no  change 
of  intonation,  but  in  a  severe,  rapid  manner. 

"  You  should  know  books  as  well  as  Nature.  One  is  God's 
Book  and  the  other  man's !" 


800  WILD  SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

"That  sounds  polemical!"  sneered  I,  having  by  this  time 
become  interested  in  her  dogmatism,  and  feeling  a  sudden 
accession  of  the  old  profane  propensity  for  cynicism. 

"  I  am  no  vulgar  heretic.  I  believe  in  all  the  sacrednesses 
of  humanity,  but  I  believe  as  well  in  those  of  Nature.  The 
religion  of  the  Bible  is,  perhaps,  more  of  a  religion  to  me  than 
to  you, — but  the  religion  of  Nature  is  an  essential  part  of  it, 
and,  with  me,  the  base,  of  course,  as  Eden  had  its  base  upon 
the  earth." 

"Well!"  thought  I,  to  myself,  "Here's  a  droll  preacher  I 
have  met  with,  any  how !" 

"  But,  you  think  it  strange  I  should  tell  you  that  you  do  not 
know  your  own  life,  because  you  suffered  your  imagination  to 
make  a  fool  of  you,  in  conditions  from  which  your  experiences 
showed  you  no  mode  of  escape  which  you  could  understand?" 

"Yes!" 

"Well,  that  you  may  understand  what  I  mean, — should 
you  not  have  known  how  to  read  this  great  page  of  continent- 
stretching  plain,  as  well  as  that  other  smaller  page  of  your 
Human  Learning,  let  it  belong  to  what  tome  it  may?" 

"  Yes ;  but  you  remember  I  have  not  had  time  yet  to  learn  !" 

"  Then  confess  yourself  a  child  !  I  have  been  taught  to  read 
your  books,  and  have  learned  something  of  them,  too.  I  can 
read  the  other  book  as  well ;  and,  instead  of  the  faded  decay 
of  the  mere  scholar,  you  see  the  bronzed  seams  of  a  sterner 
and  more  hardy  life.  Woman  as  you  say  I  am — I  will  out- 
live a  dozen  of  them  in  the  Life  of  Truth.  Had  I  been  cast 
upon  the  middle  of  the  desert  of  Sahara  by  such  a  tornado  as 
you  met  with  last  night,  I  should  not  have  attempted  to  take  a 
course  until  I  had  seen  the  sun  rise.  This  would  have  been 
a  base  for  faith,  for  observation,  for  calculation — nothing 
would  have  escaped  me,  however  minute — from  the  character 
of  a  cloud  to  the  position  of  the  low  sand-waves  fixed  around 
me,  to  tell  how  the  prevailing  wind  had  left  them  to  wait  its 
next  coming — and  that  wind  would  tell  a  pregnant  story, 


THE   TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  301 

too,  when  it  went  by.  I  could  almost  judge  with  certainty 
'  whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth  !'  Not  a  starved  and 
bitter  shrub,  but  its  fingers  pointed  a  significance — or  showed 
something  on  one  side  of  the  discolored  bark — either  the 
direction  of  the  nearest  water,  or  of  the  prevailing  wind — 
not  an  antelope  that  darted  past  but  would  have  led  me  tho 
way  to  some  Oasis  !"  She  paused  suddenly. 

"  That  a  man  should  utter  such  thought  would  not  surprise 
me  so  much" — said  I,  hastily.  "  But  that  a  woman  should — " 

"A  woman  should!"  she  interrupted.  "Give  a  woman 
something  to  love  and  something  to  venerate — an  idea  to 
achieve — and  what  will  she  not  accomplish  !  Now  you  show 
yourself  a  child  again  !" 

"  You  nuike  woman  in  yourself  more  infallible  than  man 
pretends  to  be,  even  in  his  proper  and  peculiar  field !" 

"  Young  man — I  understand  you !  I  could  possibly  get 
lost  as  easily  as  some  men — but  I  could  not  get  scared !" 

"  Thank  you !"  said  I,  with  a  poor  effort  at  the  magnani- 
mous. But  she  went  on  without  noticing. 

"  I  should  not  have  been  flurried  out  of  my  common  sense, 
and  lost  all  the  chance  I  had  for  getting  out  of  the  scrape — 
if  I  am  a  woman.  There  is  too  much  yet  to  be  accomplished 
to  justify  any  one  in  throwing  away  a  life.  Mankind  has  yet 
to  be  redeemed.  The  world  needs  all  its  laborers  !" 

Here  is  the  key-note  to  this  strange  anomaly — I  thought ! 

"  You  will  not  do  much  to  redeem  it  out  here !"  I  ventured 
to  hint. 

She  turned  her  head  abruptly,  merely  muttering — 

"You  will  know  more  some  time  !"  and,  as  at  the  moment, 
a  herd  of  deer,  which  had  been  lying  down  in  the  grass  within 
range,  sprang  up  from  a  low  piece  of  the  ground — her  rifle 
was  at  her  shoulder  in  an  instant.  A  deer  bounded  into  the 
air,  and  merely  saying  as  she  turned  off — 

""Wait  for  me  1" — she  proceeded  to  cut  the  throat  of  the 
animal — reloading  her  rifle  as  she.  went. 


302  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

"Well!"  said  I,  as  I  squirmed  in  my  saddle,  when  she  wag 
out  of  car-shot — "  Here's  a,  free  specimen,  with  a  vengeance  ! 
A  sort  of  Amazonian-Siamese-Twins-of-a-personage — a  doublc- 
shottcd-shc-fanatic  run  wild !  She  is  surely  sufficient  unto 
herself? — Lord  help  the  husband  of  such  a  woman — if  she 
have  one  !"  Then  I  felt  mean. 

"  But,  by  Jove,  how  strangely  she  talks — and  how  kindly  she 
has  treated  me — if  she  does  patronize  !  I  half  suspect  she's 
right  about  the  child!" 

The  deer  was  dissected  in  short  order,  and  she  returned  to 
my  side  bearing  the  hams  still  enveloped  in  the  hide,  which 
had  been  stripped  from  the  fore-parts,  which  are  not  much 
valued  in  a  country  where  venison  is  so  abundant.  She  slung 
her  burden  across  my  horse  behind  my  seat,  merely  remarking 
as  we  moved  on — "  This  is  a  fat  saddle  !" 

"  But  is  it  possible  that  you  hunt  on  foot  always  ?" 

"  Yes  ;  I  prefer  it !" 

"  How  do  you  get  your  meat  home  ? — not  upon  your  shoul- 
ders, I  hope  !" 

"  Yes — but  why  not,  young  man  ?  My  limbs  arc  strong, 
my  step  is  firm.  I  do  not  tire  like  the  tottering  creatures  of 
rotten  civilization.  I  who  breathe  God's  pure  air  have  the 
will — why  not  the  deed  ?" 

"But  you  are  a  woman,"  I  persisted.  "Your  husband,  if 
you  have  one,  should  do  this  ?" 

"  Bah  !  What  if  I  am  a  woman — I  must  work  ?  My  hus- 
band works  !  Works  gloriously  and  nobly  for  mankind,  and 
I,  too,  am  laboring  for  mankind  when  I  provide  for  him.  He 
has  no  time  for  such  menial  labors ;  and  if  he  had,  he  would 
be  doing  injustice  to  the  necessities  of  the  race  if  lie  gave  it 
to  anything  but  the  high  mission  on  which  he  has  been  sent !" 

"  This  is  a  strange  doctrine,  it  scorns  to  me — you  arc 
reversing  the  savage  code ;  for  even  with  them,  although  the 
women  perform  the  baser  services,  the  men  at  least  do  the 
hunting." 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS.  303 

"Young  man,  you  speak  like  one  who  had  been  in  the 
world  just  twenty-one  years,  and  that,  having  eyes,  had  not 
seen.  Do  you  not  know  that  progress,  like  all  other  of  God'a 
great  Laws,  moves  in  the  spiral — upwards?  That  it  must 
bring  us  around  again  to  the  same  conditions  from  whence  we 
started — though  above  them.  A  close  approximation  to  the 
savage  life  and  virtues  will  be  the  highest  civilization.  It  is  the 
ferocious  vices  we  shall  have  conquered,  and  the  heroic  virtues 
we  shall  have  attained.  These  stern  savage  races  go  down 
before  the  wheels  of  progress  because  they  will  not  bend ;  with 
the  light  that  was  given  them,  they  are  too  faithful  and  too 
strong  to  yield.  It  is  a  bastard  civilization  that  is  really  un- 
true— begotten  of  luxury  or  lust — its  children  are  the  true 
Neros  of  ferocity  and  brutality.  The  world  needs  brains 
now  more  than  thews  and  sinews.  The  need  is  too  great  for 
true  hearts  to  stop  at  conventional  forms,  which,  after  all,  are 
the  mere  disguises  of  unbounded  licentiousness.  The  millions 
groan,  and  we  must  work  each  in  his  own  appointed  way." 

"  But  I  do  not  understand  from  all  this  why  the  common 
relation  of  husband  and  wife  should  be  reversed." 

"  Ah,  yes !  Then  the  constant  tendency  of  this  struggle 
of  civilization  toward  the  simpler  forms  and  a  purer  light,  is 
to  intensify  the  action  of  the  mental  and  spiritual  natures, 
rather  than  the  mere  physical.  The  mental  searches  for  the 
mechanical  means  of  rescue,  the  soul  for  the  spiritual.  Both 
are  maddened  by  the  clamorous  cries  of  suffering  nations  into 
a  morbid  activity — the  results  of  which  are  most  frequently 
*  confusion  worse  confounded' — and  an  unnatural  development 
of  the  brain,  or  of  the  mental  in  relation  to  physical.  Where 
this  condition  has  supervened,  it  is  the  office  of  love  to  restore 
the  equilibrium ;  and  in  the  true  marriage,  upon  whichever 
party  the  lot  of  extreme  spiritual  and  mental  development 
shall  fall,  the  doctrine  of  Utility  requires  of  him  or  her  a 
life-dedication  to  the  great  cause,  in  whatever  direction  tho 


304  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

strongest  tendencies  may  be — and  so  upon  whichever  party, 
man  or  woman,  the  lot  of  greatest  physical  strength  and 
activity  should  fall,  the  responsibility  of  all  that  species  of 
exertion  must  devolve.  Thus  they  both  labor  to  the  same 
end,  through  each  other,  and  are  unified  in  purpose  and 
results !" 

"  This  then  is  your  reason  for  assuming  the  office  of  com- 
missary! You  are  physically  strongest,  and  have  assumed 
the  burden  of  the  way  ?" 

"  He  is  strong  in  his  own  way,  young  man  !"  she  answered 
drily — "  But  look  !  there  is  our  little  home  !" 

I  had  become  so  interested  in  this  strange  conversation — 
stranger  even  than  the  circumstances  which  had  brought  me 
into  such  relations — that  I  had  not  noticed  what  the  direction 
was,  or  what  the  peculiarities  of  the  ground  we  were  passing 
over.  I  now  looked  around  me,  and  even  if  my  vision  iiad 
not  been  sharpened  by  observing  a  sort  of  cynical  smile  upon 
her  face  as  she  pronounced  the  last  words — I  think  my  own 
memory  would  have  been  sufficient  to  compel  me  to  recognize 
the  scene,  amidst  the  "Archipelago  of  motts,"  in  which  the 
deer  had.  fallen,  and  from  which  I  had  fled  so  ignominiously 
— as  it  was  turning  out. 

There  was  the  very  spot  where  I  had  left  the  deer,  and  the 
bones  of  the  refuse  parts  lay  strewed  around  upon  the  dank 
and  bloody  grass.  Some  wolves,  which  had  been  squatting  in 
the  neighborhood  of  their  feast,  made  off  as  we  approached. 
I  looked  in  the  direction  in  which  the  woman  had  pointed, 
but  could  perceive  nothing  like  a  house.  She  smiled  at  my 
puzzled  gaze  of  inquiry  into  her  face. 

"  You  are  back  again,  you  see  !  I  took  off  that  deer's  skin 
myself,  and  you  ate  some  of  its  meat.  The  horse  had  more 
wit  than  the  rider — you  perceive  he  was  coming  direct !" 

"Yes!"  said  I  dolorously,  as  we  were  passing  on — "but 
where  is  the  house  of  which  you  spoke  ?"  for  my  bruised 


THE   TEXAN  HUNTKESS.  305 

limb — the  pain  of  which  I  had  almost  forgotten  during  the 
excitement  of  our  conversation — was  becoming  most  oppres- 
sive, now  that  something  had  been  said  of  home  and  rest. 

"Do  you  see  that  small  mott?"  said  she,  pointing  with  her 
rifle  to  a  clump  of  large  live  oaks  upon  a  bit  of  rising  ground, 
some  half  a  mile  ahead — and  near  to  what,  I  now  perceived, 
for  the  first  time,  to  look  like  the  heavy  timbered  bottom  of  a 
stream  of  some  size. 

"I  see  nothing  but  a  mott !"  said  I  impatiently.  "Where 
is  the  house  ?"  Her  look  brightened  as  she  stepped  on  more 
briskly  by  the  side  of  my  horse,  who  seemed  to  have  scented 
some  familiar  odor  on  the  breeze,  that  quickened  his  step,  for 
his  ear  was  now  pricked  forward,  and  his  gait  confident  and 
elate. 

"  You  shall  see  !"  and  she  smiled.  We  soon  reached  the 
mott,  and  passing  beneath  the  long  heavy  drapery  of  moss 
that  descended  from  the  low  wide  limbs  of  the  live-oak,  we 
were  at  once  in  the  dim  cool  twilight,  which  would  have  b~3t 
become  that  religious  atmosphere  in  which  the  Druidical  riteo 
were  performed.  In  the  midst  of  this,  and  almost  hidden  by 
the  gray  fantastic  drapery  of  the  great  tree  above, — I  saw 
indistinctly  the  appearance  of  palisading,  that  seemed  to  be 
circular  in  form.  Another  moment  she  pushed  aside  the  moss, 
and  we  were  at  the  door.  It  was  a  round  hut,  the  walls  of 
which  were  composed  of  the  small  trunks  of  trees  set  perpen- 
dicularly in  the  ground — the  interstices  being  filled  with  a 
sort  of  cement  of  moss  and  mud.  The  roof  was  thatched 
with  bull-rushes,  and  the  door  was  a  frame  of  hickory  saplings 
stoutly  interwoven.  There  was  no  sort  of  picketing  about 
it,  as  is  usual  in  the  country,  to  the  small  as  well  as  large 
ranches. 

It  seemed  as  if  the  shelter  of  the  moss-draped  oaks  had 
been  deemed  sufficient — and  so,  indeed,  it  appeared  to  be,  for 
its  appearance  of  entire  security,  like  some  wild  nest  of  lonely 
birds,  was  what  first  struck  me  as  I  saw  it.  The  door  was 

20 


306  WILD   SCENES   AND   "WILD   HUNTERS. 

closed,  and  it  looked  silent  as  death.  She  held  up  her  arms 
to  assist  me  to  alight,  and  then  taking  down  her  venison,  she 
gave  the  lariate  of  my  horse  a  turn  around  a  limb  of  the 
sheltering  oak,  and  assisted  me  toward  the  door.  She  called 
out  in  a  low  tone,  "  William  ?" 

I  heard  a  soft,  unsteady  tread  respond  to  the  call,  and  the 
door  was  opened.  A  pale  man,  with  large  head,  bright  gray 
eyes,  broad  shoulders,  and  small  legs,  made  his  appearance. 

"What  is  the  matter,  Molly?"  said  he,  with  such  a  quiet 
look  as  his  eye  fell  upon  me,  that  one  would  have  supposed  I 
was  his  oldest  son. 

"  Is  the  poor  youth  hurt  that  he  leans  upon  you  so  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  Then,  bring  him  in,  in  God's  name,  and  we  will  shelter 
him  until  his  strength  returns!"  and  she  assisted  me  to  the 
door,  when  he  clutched  me  with  a  strength  of  gripe  that  as- 
tonished me,  and  nearly  lifting  me  towards  a  low  couch  of 
dried  moss,  laid  me  upon  it  without  asking  a  question.  He 
adjusted  my  position  with  a  sort  of  awkward  care,  and  when 
assured  that  I  was  comfortable,  he  went  quietly  to  a  rude 
ottoman  composed  of  dressed  bear-skins  with  forked  stakes  and 
small  saplings  for  supports,  and  seated  himself,  with  the  most 
benign  expression  of  serenity  before  a  rude  table  covered  with 
all  sorts  of  odd  implements ;  and  taking,  up,  what  appeared  to 
be  a  microscope,  commenced  an  attentive  survey  of  some  small 
object  before  him,  which  I  could  not  distinguish.  He  had 
asked  me  no  explanation,  did  not  seem  to  be  at  all  disturbed 
by  my  sudden  appearance,  and  had  fallen  back  into  what 
Bcemed  a  routine,  just  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  This, 
though  not  very  complimentary  to  my  vanity,  only  served  to 
rouse  my  curiosity,  in  spite  of  my  sufferings. 

"Molly  will  take  care  of  you  directly!"  he  said,  looking 
up  ;  "  She  has  gone  to  stake  out  your  horse !"  and  he  went  on 
with  his  work.  I  thought  of  magii,  necromancers,  astrologers, 
alchemists,  &c.,  all  in  a  breath,  as  I  stared  at  the  strange, 


THE.   TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  307 

calm  man,  with  the  light  from  one  small  window,  or  port-hole 
rather,  falling  upon  his  tahle  and  his  gray  hairs ! 

The  strange  effect  was  not  a  little  heightened  by  the  sur- 
roundings of  this  person.  I  had  now,  in  the  unbroken  silence, 
sufficient  leisure  to  observe  these  appliances,  which  were  en- 
tirely inexplicable  to  me  at  the  time.  First,  I  noticed  a 
small  rude  furnace  in  one  corner,  near  to  which  were  scat- 
tered about  some  small  hammers,  files,  tongs  and  other  tools 
used  in  working  iron  and  steel ;  while  near  the  desk  were  some 
ten  or  a  dozen  small  models  carved  from  wood  with  great 
neatness,  and  having  occasional  springs,  bolts,  &c.  of  metal. 
Such  a  maze  of  wheels,  cogs,  cranks,  balls,  bolts  and  all  that 
sort  of  thing  was  there,  that  one  could  form  no  idea  of  their 
meaning,  not  even  whether  they  all  belonged  to  the  same 
machine,  or  were  the  parts  of  one  whole,  waiting  to  be  put  to- 
gether ! 

On  knots  and  pegs,  in  crannies,  and  strewed  in  all  sorts  of  con- 
fusion about  the  floor  and  on  rude  shelves,  were  every  con- 
ceivable variety  of  parts  that  appeared  to  have  been  formed 
for  machinery  of  models  or  a  model.  These  parts  were  prin- 
cipally of  wood,  as  the  metals  seemed  to  have  been  used  with 
every  possible  frugality,  since  they  must,  of  course,  have  been 
very  difficult  to  obtain  and  to  transport  in  such  a  region.  A 
few  of  the  simplest  of  the  common  implements  of  carpentry 
were  hung  around  the  room  or  thrown  about  the  floor.  It 
seemed  as  if  the  tools  and  their  creations  had  all  been  shaken 
in  a  bag  together  and  then  whirled  around  the  room  to  roll 
together,  to  fall  or  stick,  where  and  as  they  might.  It  was 
certainly  a  droll  looking  place,  and  there  was  one  mysterious 
seeming  recess  which  was  hung  with  skins,  but  which  was, 
as  it  appeared  to  me,  too  small  for  a  bed,  and  added  no  little 
to  my  curiosity. 

The  woman  now  came  in. 

"He  is  bruised,  William, — what  shall  we  do?" 

The  man  looked  up,  slightly. 


308  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

"  Did  you  bring  in  a  deer,  Molly  ?" 

"Yes!" 

"Is  it  cold?" 

"  All  but  the  hams  !" 

"  Then  skin  them,  and  wrap  the  warm  parts  of  the  skin 
around  the  bruised  limb  !" 

"  Yes,  I  know !"  and  she  turned  off,  while  he  resumed  his 
labor. 

"  Well !"  thought  I,  "  this  is  a  case  !.  Here  I  am  about  to 
be  enveloped  in  a  reeking  deer-skin,  warm  from  the  carcass, 
by  these  wild  cannibals.  I  wish  the  infernal  tornado  had 
finished  me.  I  have  heard  of  such  usages,  but  they  horrify 
me  !"  I  felt  most  like  getting  up  to  run  away,  but  there  in 
terposed  the  sad  difficulty  that  I  was  unable  to  rise.  Aftei 
several  ineffectual  efforts,  which,  however,  attracted  no  sort 
of  attention  from  the  rapt  student  at  the  desk,  and  many 
muttered  anathemas  against  fate,  fools  and  fanatics  in  gene- 
ral, I  managed  to  subside,  in  a  great  degree,  into  a  cooler 
mood,  and  became  resigned,  from  sheer  helplessness,  jto  trust 
in  anything  but  such  Providence ! — as  I  impiously  sneered  to 
myself. 

The  woman  came  now  with  the  warm  skin ;  and  after  some 
remonstrance  on  my  part,  the  old  man  was  roused  from  his 
absorbed  labor  to  envelop  my  extremities  in  this  novel  poul- 
tice. I  afterwards  found  that  it  was  extensively  used  among 
the  Indians,  north  and  south,  and  have  since  learned  that  this 
first  step  towards  the  "pack"  of  wet  sheet  and  blanket,  claimed 
to  be  invented  by  Priessnitz,  is  one  of  the  oldest  uses  of  our 
race,  and  still  practiced  with  wonderful  effect  in  China,  Russia, 
Germany,  £c.,  by  the  lower  classes,  and  sometimes  by  the 
higher,  as  was  the  case  once  with  Murat,  when  he  was  crushed 
almost  into  a  jelly  by  the  fall  of  his  horse  down  a  precipice. 

lie  was  enveloped  by  his  wise  physician,  in  the  hide  of  an 
ox,  Avhich  was  killed  for  the  purpose,  and  after  a  long  sleep, 
recovered,  with  nearly  all  trace  of  his  bruises  gone.  I  was  not 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS.  309 

aware  at  the  time,  more  than  vaguely,  in  what  good  and  an- 
cient company  I  lay  in  my  disgusting  envelope ;  all  I  could 
know  about  it  was  that  I  went  to  sleep  very  soon,  and  slept, 
— Heaven  knows  how  long  !  and  awoke  with  the  pain  gone  ! 

The  old  man  released  me,  and  leading  me,  entirely  nude, 
out-side  the  door,  astounded  me  by  dashing  a  bucket  full  of 
the  coldest  water  upon  my  person,  which  was  reeking  with 
perspiration,  and  before  I  had  fairly  recovered  from  the  effects 
of  this,  it  was  followed  by  another  and  another. 

This  primitive  sort  of  treatment  had  a  wonderful  effect ; 
and  when  I  again  dressed,  I  almost  thought  myself  born  again, 
so  free  did  I  feel  from  the  distressing  consequences  of  my 
fall.  I  found  in  attempting  to  move  about  that  there  was 
still  some  stiffness  in  my  leg,  but  it  was  so  slight  as  not  to  be 
a  matter  of  much  importance.  The  bruises  were  gone,  and 
the  circulation  of  the  limb  temporarily  restored  in  a  great 
measure,  and  that  was  certainly  miracle  enough  for  the  pre- 
sent. 

Though  the  acute  pain  had  been  entirely  banished  by  this 
novel  process,  yet,  of  course,  the  entire  restoration  was  yet 
slow.  The  muscles  and  tendons  had  been  seriously  strained 
and  injured  by  the  weight  and  struggles  of  my  horse,  but, 
bathing  the  parts  in  cold  water,  as  was  directed  by  the  old 
man,  always  soothed  any  painful  return  of  inflammation. 

There  was  a  clear,  beautiful  spring  in  the  rear  of  the 
house,  underneath  the  huge  live-oaks  composing  the  mott. 
Here  I  limped  several  times  a  day  to  apply  the  simple  resto- 
rative. The  little  brook  made  its  shining  way  through  the 
high  grass  down  the  slope,  and  at  some  periods  of  the  day, 
glanced  prettily  in  the  sun  from  beneath  the  green  tangles 
that  drooped  and  met  over  it.  The  scene  was  very  pleasant ; 
for,  seated  on  the  mossy  roots  in  the  cool,  dense  shade,  I  could 
just  trace  its  glimmering  way  by  glimpses  through  the  neavy 
draping  of  moss  which  depended  nearly  to  the  ground.  The 
stillness,  mildly  stirred  by  the  faint  ripple,  was  so  lulling, 


310  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

that  if  one  did  not  sleep  soon  he  was  compelled  to  think,  and 
in  connected  strains  of  thought,  too. 

Here  I  sat  and  mused  much ;  for,  in  spite  of  myself  and 
all  my  efforts  at  sneering,  there  was  something  in  this  woman's 
A'ild  talk  that  impressed  me, — and  in  the  strange  life,  man- 
ners and  surroundings  of  this  remarkable  recluse,  that  had 
aroused  my  deepest  and  most  curious  sympathy.  These  were 
new  thoughts, — strange  ideas — she  had  spoken.  This  was  a 
new  phase  of  life  to  me — this  isolation — this  devotion  to  a 
fixed  purpose — this  self-denial,  which  could  sever  two  persons 
from  all  the  common  sympathies  of  their  race,  and  send  them 
off  to  remote  and  dangerous  solitudes, — change  the  natural 
relations  of  the  sexes,  and  exalt  them  into  the  incommunica- 
tive and  apparently  crazed  condition  of  abstraction  and  de- 
votion to  a  single  idea  ! 

"  What  is  this  Idea  ?  What  do  these  people  hope  to  ac- 
complish?" I  asked  myself  a  thousand  times.  "  They  talk 
of  social  wrongs, — but  that  is  no  new  story, — it  is  simply  as 
old  as  society,  that  those  who  can  find  no  business  of  their 
own  to  attend  to,  should,  and  will  employ  themselves  with 
the  business  of  others,  and  go  to  work  to  save  the  world ! 
They  commonly  make  a  good  speculation  of  it,  and  are  usually 
corrupt  as  they  are  loud-mouthed,  vulgar  and  stupid, — but 
here  seems  an  anomalous  case.  These  people  are  clearly  in 
earnest.  Women  do  not  run  such  risks  for  nothing,  nor  do 
men  dedicate  themselves'  with  such  singleness  of  purpose  to 
what  they  merely  expect  selfish  returns  from !  I  must  get  at 
this  idea — and  get  at  it  I  will !  These  persons  are  evidently 
educated,  for  silent  and  abruptly  incommunicative  as  they 
have  been  since  I  came,  I  have  heard  enough  to  convince 
me  of  this  much,  and  unravel  this  secret  1  will!" 

Such,  I  remember,  were  my  musings,  when,  after  having 
been  tenderly  cared  for  several  days,  I  found  myself  equally 
puzzled  as  at  first,  to  understand  what  this  old  man  was  doing, 
or  expected  to  accomplish.  He  had  made  no  explanations, 


THE   TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  311 

and  although  uniformly  kind,  had  taken  no  sort  of  notice  of  the 
various  and  ingenious  hints  by  which  I  had  endeavored  to  get 
at  what  was  his  object.  I  had  slyly  tried  to  understand  for 
myself  the  meaning  of  the  models  which  strewed  the  room, 
but  could  make  nothing  out  of  them  all.  Though  my  knowl- 
edge of  mechanics  was  very  slight,  yet  I  had  some  idea  of 
general  principles,  which  ought  to  have  been  sufficient  to  give 
me  at  least  a  vague  clue  to  the  object  attempted.  I  had 
given  up  in  despair ;  and  as  I  could  not  understand  the  mean- 
ing of  the  sort  of  hieroglyphico-transcendental  language  in 
which  they  spoke  to  each  other  upon  the  subject  of  the  mys- 
terious machine,  I  determined  to  win  upon  the  sympathies  of 
one  or  the  other  in  some  way,  and  get  thus  at  the  secret. 

Accident  favored  me ! 

She  had  talked  with  me  in  the  freest  manner  during  the 
first  exciting  period  after  our  meeting,  but  since  I  had  become 
an  inmate,  her  answers  to  my  inquiry  upon  such  subjects 
had  all  been  abrupt  and  mystical  in  a  degree  which  left  me 
no  wiser  than  before.  The  old  man  seldom  left  the  house, 
even  for  exercise ;  but  one  morning,  when  I  had  almost  en- 
tirely recovered,  I  was  sitting  in  my  accustomed  place  by 
the  spring,  when  he  came  slowly  walking  towards  me  with 
the  fccblo  gait  of  the  partial  paralytic;  and,  greatly  to  my 
surprise,  bore  my  pistols  along  with  his  own  gun,  in  his 
hands. 

"  What  can  this  mean  !" — thought  I,  rising  hastily  to  meet 
him. 

Giving  the  pistols  into  my  hands,  he  merely  said,  with  a 
quiet  smile : — 

"  The  Cherokee  Indians  are  down,  young  man  ! — and  we 
may  have  to  defend  our  little  home  !" 

"Is  it  possible!"  said  I,  starting  with  surprise.  "The 
Cherokees!  Where  are  they?  How  did  you  hear?" 

"  0,  Molly  keeps  a  good  look  out ! — she  found  their  trail 


312  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

about  day-break,  and  lias  since  seen  them.  She  has  just 
got  in.  They  are  on  her  trail  now,  I  suppose,  for  we  expect 
them  here  soon !" 

The  blood  rushed  to  my  heart,  and  it  beat  very  loud  and 
fast.  I  had  never  met  the  Indians  of  any  sort,  as  yet.  Here 
at  once  was  a  stern  novely  in  the  excitements  that  I  had 
courted. 

I  had  little  time  to  understand  the  thing,  for  we  now  saw  and 
felt  the  imminent  necessity  of  hurrying  towards  the  house 
before  the  approaching  savages.  I  had  to  assist  the  old  man, 
and  the  moment  I  got  into  motion,  the  blood  rushed  in  a 
burning  tide  back  to  my  head  and  face,  and  then  every  limb 
and  fibre  thrilled  with  a  new  sensation.  Everything  seemed 
confused  around  me  for  the  moment.  The  trees  spun,  and 
the  moss  and  grass  were  whirled  together  in  a  chaotic  blend- 
ing, most  like  that  before  the  eyes  of  a  drunken  man;  while 
the  only  objects  that  I  saw  with  perfect  arid  vivid  distinct- 
ness, were  the  tall  forms  of  eight  or  ten  warriors  that  had 
suddenly  appeared  in  the  distance,  and  were  gliding  rapidly 
across  a  sui.-«i]  opening  between  the  oaks,  evidently  with  the 
view  of  ^-'Hm;  between  us  and  the  house,  and  thus  cutting 
us  off  from  abater.  When  I  realized  this  it  caused  a  violent 
start  that  r^ored  me,  like  an  electric  shock  in  a  case  of 
stupor,  to  the  full  possession  of  all  my  faculties,  sharpened, 
indeed,  into  a  greater  than  the  natural  coolness.  The  dis- 
tance we  had  to  pass  was  short,  to  be  sure,  but  then  the  old 
man  was  paralytic,  and  I  was  still  somewhat  lame. 

I  sa'.v  in  one  quick  glance  our  great  danger — that  the 
savages  were  urging  their  utmost  speed  to  intercept  us.  A 
sudden  strength — almost  supernatural — possessed  me  at  once. 
My  eye  tcok  in  every  thing.  The  very  undulations  of  the 
moss  enabled  me  to  track  their  course,  when  they  quickly 
passed  out  of  view  behind  it.  I  could  now  even  hear  the 
twigs  crush  beneath  their  feet — when  feeling  that  our  hope 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS.  813 

was  a  desperate  one — I  seized  the  old  man  in  my  arms,  and 
forgetting  my  lameness,  rushed  with  him  towards  the  door 
of  the  house. 

I  reached  it — and  found  it  was  closed  for  the  moment.  He 
still  held  on  to  his  rifle,  and  as  the  door  opened  to  admit  us, 
he  turned  himself  in  my  arms,  and  coolly  presenting  it,  said 
in  a  low  voice,  "  Stop  !" 

The  word  was  not  fully  spoken,  when  the  ring  of  several 
rifles  from  the  wood  was  replied  to  by  that  of  his  own.  He 
dropped  heavily  from  my  arms  on  his  own  door-sill.  The 
Indians  were  upon  us  !  I  had  stuck  my  pistols  into  my  belt, 
and  now  I  wheeled  to  face  them,  standing  over  the  body.  The 
clear  ring  of  a  rifle  above  my  shoulder,  and  the  staggering 
fall  of  one  of  the  foremost  warriors  showed  me  that  "Molly" 
was  on  hand.  The  Indians  recoiled  for  a  moment,  for  it  was 
the  chief  of  the  party  that  fell  beneath  the  shot — and  then 
seeing  only  myself  astride  of  the  body — they  rushed  on  me 
with  a  yell  as  vengeful  as  it  was  infernal. 

I  saw  the  fierce  eyes  of  "Molly"  blazing  behind  me  as  she 
screamed — 

"Give  it  to  the  Cherokee  dogs,  my  boy!"  while  she  plied 
her  ram-rod  desperately — reloading  for  another  shot. 

I  stood  at  bay  with  that  strange  flushed  feeling  which 
always  attends  the  consummation  of  despair.  It  was  a  wild  and 
furious  struggle  for  a  moment.  The  firing  of  my  pistols  was 
almost  instantly  followed  by  the  report  of  her  rifle  again — 
this  caused  the  Indians  to  hesitate  slightly,  which  gave  us  time 
to  drag  in  the  body  of  the  dead  or  wounded  man — we  did  not 
yet  know  which.  They  saw  us  about  to  escape,  and  made  a 
rush  to  prevent  the  closing  of  the  door.  Several  of  them  were 
throwing  themselves  against  it  together,  and  had  nearly  suc- 
ceeded in  the  effort — but  the  frantic  woman  seemed  endued 
with  nearly  supernatural  strength,  and  with  a  single  stroke, 
felled  the  foremost  with  the  butt  of  her  rifle — while  I  held 


314  WILD  SCENES 'AND  WILD  HUNTERS. 

lh9  dcor  with  all  mj  excited  strength.  Though  both  of  us 
were  wounded,  we  succeeded  in  closing  the  bolt,  while  the 
Indians  kept  firing  at  the  door,  in  the  vain  hope  of  hitting 
us  through  it.  Hickory  is  a  very  tough  wood,  and  the  closely 
woven  withs  or  poles  of  which  it  was  composed  were  bullet- 
proof. 

Tt  was  not,  however,  proof  against  hatchets,  and  instantly 
we  heard  the  blows  by  which  they  were  cutting  their  way 
through.  "We  reloaded  our  weapons  in  silence.  The  door 
was  fraily  hung,  and  could  not  stand  such  a  general  assault 
more  than  a  few  moments — but  when  we  were  ready,  she 
looked  up  with  a  smile  that  seemed  very  strange  at  such  a 
time. 

"  I  prepared  for  them  long  ago  !"  she  said,  in  a  low,  hissing 
voice — as  she  punched  out  a  bit  of  mud  from  between  two  of 
the  pickets  of  the  house — and  then  thrust  her  rifle  through 
what  I  now  saw  was  a  shrewdly  disguised  port-hole,  bearing 
directly  upon  the  door.  She  fired,  and  a  yell  of  agony  from 
the  outside  followed.  As  she  withdrew  her  rifle,  I  also  fired 
my  pistol  through  the  port-hole  into  the  midst  of  the  flurried 
and  astonished  group,  which  had  gathered  about  a  fallen 
warrior.  Their  discomfiture  was  now  complete,  and  with  ges- 
tures of  furious  menace,  I  could  see  they  commenced  a  retreat 
more  rapid  than  the  charge  had  been,  and  as  little  expected. 

The  woman,  who  now  appeared  to  have  grown  wild  with 
rage,  quickly  sent  after  their  retreat  another  shot  from  the 
door-way,  which  she  had  impetuously  thrown  open.  She 
screamed  her  defiance,  and  shook  her  clenched  hand  at  them 
like  some  crazed  "  Madge  Wildfire,"  as  they  disappeared  in 
yet  greater  confusion  from  her  shot,  and  turning  towards  me 
\vith  lips  blue  and  compressed — until  they  were  thin  as  wafers 
across  her  teeth — muttered  faintly — 

"  They  have  slain  my  husband  !"  and  staggering  towards 
the  still  insensible  body — her  flashing  eyes  suddenly  grew 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS.  315 

dim — her  face  deathly  pale,  and  dropping  her  rifle  to  the 
floor,  she  fell  upon  the  body,  clutching  it  convulsively  about 
the  neck. 

Now  came  the  time  for  me  to  repay,  in  some  measure  at 
least,  the  kindness  of  this  singular  couple.  They  both  lay 
stretched  upon  the  floor  insensible,  and  apparently  dead.  It 
was  a  horrid  sight — for  a  moment  I  was  stupefied  as  I  gazed 
upon  them — but  the  last  few  moments,  in  thoroughly  rousing 
my  whole  life  to  new  sensations,  had  learned  me  a  stern  lesson 
in  presence  of  mind.  I  sprang  first  for  some  water,  and 
dashed  it  into  the  faces  of  the  motionless  pair,  and  then 
kneeling  beside  them,  rubbed  their  hands  and  feet  with  all 
my  strength.  It  was  but  a  little  time  before  I  convinced 
myself  that  neither  one  of  them  was  yet  dead.  This  relieved 
and  encouraged  me  greatly,  so  that  I  urged  my  efforts  to 
resuscitate  them,  and,  after  a  few  minutes  more,  commenced 
examining  the  old  man's  body,  to  find  and  staunch  the  wound. 

I  had  seen  no  blood  as  yet,  and  therefore  supposed  it  must, 
of  course,  bleed  internally,  and  consequently  be  fatal.  What 
was  my  hopeful  surprise  to  find  that  it  was  apparently  a 
graze-shot — as  the  ball  had  ploughed  up  the  flesh  along  the 
hinder  part  of  the  neck  near  the  base  of  the  skull ;  and  as  it 
was,  evidently,  not  deep  when  I  probed  it  with  my  finger,  I 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  bone  had  been  merely  indented 
— not  shattered — and  that  the  spinal  chord  had  been  more 
paralyzed  by  the  shock  than  seriously  injured.  Warmed  still 
more  pleasantly  by  this  discovery,  I, rapidly  staunched  the 
blood,  which  had  been  running  down  inside  the  collar  of  his 
buckskin  coat,  and  was,  therefore,  not  visible. 

The  wound  of  the  woman  was  bleeding  profusely.  I  soon 
found  that  it  consisted  of  an  ugly  flesh  wound  in  the  right 
arm,  which  passed  through  into  the  breast,  but  whether  into 
the  chest  or  not  I  could  only  conjecture — but  hoped  for  the 
best,  as  I  saw  it,  too,  bled  externally  and  freelj.  I  staunched 
the  wounds  as  well  as  my  poor  skill  in  surgery  would  admit. 


316  TVILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

She  gradually  recovered  from  the  swoon,  and,  half  rising, 
stared  vaguely  about  her  for  an  instant — but  her  first  words 
were — 

"Is  he  alive?"  This  was  spoken  in  a  suffocating  voice, 
while  her  lips  trembled. 

"  He  still  lives,  and  I  hope  is  not  mortally  hurt !" 

"  God  be  thanked,  and  let  humanity  rejoice  !"  she  said 
solemnly,  and  with  a  start  she  sprang  to  her  feet.  "  You  are 
hurt,  young  man — I  see  blood  upon  you  !" 

I  had  been  too  much  excited  to  think  of  my  own  wound, 
although  I  now  felt  that  the  pain  had  been  considerable — 
however,  it  proved  to  be,  upon  examination,  but  slight,  and 
gave  me  of  itself  but  little  trouble  afterwards.  It  was  merely  a 
flesh  wound  in  the  thigh  of  the  same  leg  that  had  been  injured 
in  the  storm,  and,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  rather  accelerated 
the  cure  of  that  injury.  The  vital  functions,  thus  extraordi- 
narily aroused,  it  is  well  known,  do  often  throw  off  the  old  as 
well  as  the  new  disease,  by  the  one  great  effort  thus  concen- 
trated upon  the  local  seat  of  the  disturbance.  Be  this  as  it 
may,  I  did  not  suffer  from  lameness  much  after  this — although 
I  had  a  great  amount  of  exertion  devolved  upon  me  by  this 
sudden  catastrophe. 

The  woman,  after  assisting  me  in  dressing  my  wound,  said 
to  me  gravely — 

"  Now,  young  man,  much  depends  upon  you !  You  arc  not 
a  great  deal  hurt — as  God  would  have  it — while  I  am  griev- 
ously— and  my  poor  William  must  probably  remain  long  in 
this  stupor  !" 

She  was  carefully  examining  him  without  disturbing  my 
dressings,  further  than  to  saturate  them  with  water. 

"I  can  hope,"  she  said,  as  she  rose  from  the  examination 
and  drew  a  long  breath — "  I  can  hope  that  your  opinion  of 
the  wound  may  prove  correct — for  his  pulse,  though  slow,  is 
strong  enough  yet — but  it  must  be  a  long  time  before  be 
recovers  his  faculties.  His  brain  is  so  immense  and  so  dis- 


THE  TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  317 

proportioned  to  his  physical  strength,  that  his  recovery  must 
be  very  slow,  if  it  come  at  all.  Young  man,  I  have  dedi- 
cated my  life  without  stint  or  reservation  to  him,  and  although 
it  is  impossible  for  me  yet  to  tell  the  extent  of  the  injuries  I 
have  received,  yet  I  must  not 'stop  to  regard  them — I  must 
win  that  glorious  mind  back  to  the  world  again,  cost  what  it 
will  to  me.  I  count  myself  as  nothing  weighed  in  the  scale 
with  his  usefulness.  He  must  be  saved  at  any  rate,  to  finish 
his  great  work !  I  saved  your  life — a  lost  wanderer,  beaten 
down  by  the  tempest — helpless,  bewildered,  wounded  and  for- 
lorn— and  now  all  that  I  ask  of  you  is,  help  to  save  him  I 
Make  no  remonstrances  !" — as  I  was  proceeding  to' deprecate 
the  disregard  of  self  she  spoke  of, — "  make  no  remonstrances, 
my  son !"  she  said  mournfully — "  I  must  require  it  of  you 
not  to  interfere  with — but  obey  me — for  the  time.  I  cannot 
be  moved — I  will  nurse  him — you  must  provide  us  with  food 
and  water  in  the  meanwhile.  I  want  no  farther  assistance. 
I  know  him  best — you  can  render  no  assistance  to  him  per- 
sonally. God  only  knows  how  far  this  ugly  hurt_  of  mine 
may  prove  injurious.  I  will  be  careful  of  it  for  his  sake,  at 
least!" 

"  I  promise  to  obey  you.     I  feel  that  I  owe  my  life  to  you, 
and  I  will  cheerfully  resign  it  to  serve  you  or  your  husband  !" 

"  I  knew  as  much,  my  child ! — I  knew  as  much — and 
was  selfish  of  me  to  remind  you  of  obligation  when  you  had 
already  more  than  trebly  repaid  whatever  there  might  be,  by 
saving  that  dear  body  which  lies  so  placid  there,  from  the 
defacing  hands  of  those  murderous  brutes — who,  as  with  those 
who  sttmd  the  Prophet  of  old — knew  not  what  they  did! — 
But  it  is  ao  selfish  anxiety  for  self  that  has  thus  made  me 
forget  wl  .at  was  due  to  hospitality — it  was  for  Mm  ! — for  his 
dear  life  ! — I  spoke  so  eagerly,  forgetting  all  things  else  ! — 
come,  let  us  place  him  on  the  poor  bed !" 

We  immediately  removed  him  to  his  place  upon  a  raised 
couch  of  dried  moss  and  leaves,  covered  with  skins,  which  had 


318  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

heretofore  been  resigned  to  me.  As  we  laid  him  clown,  his 
pulsation  evidently  quickened,  but  his  eyes  were  still  un- 
opened, and  his  limbs  remained  palsied.  I  brought  water 
from  the  spring,  which  I  freely  used  under  the  directions  of 
the  woman,  who  by  this  time  had  become  too  faint  for  farther 
exertion.  The  only  immediate  effect  was  a  partial  one,  even 
with  our  slight  expectation.  He  breathed  still  more  freely, 
and  slightly  moved  his  head.  I  now  had  to  apply  the  same 
remedy  to  herself,  and  soon  had  the  satisfaction,  after  using 
the  cold  water  freely,  and  enveloping  her  in  skins,  of  which 
there  was  a  large  quantity  piled  on  a  sort  of  garret  scaffolding 
near  the  roof,  to  see  her  fall  into  a  deep  but  troubled  sleep. 
I  enveloped  his  body  in  much  the  same  way,  and  then  had 
leisure  to  look  about  me,  and  find  what  store  of  provision  we 
had  on  hand. 

I  was  greatly  disappointed  to  find  but  little  venison  cr 
meat  of  any  kind  stored  in  the  house,  and  this  filled  me  with 
uneasiness,  for  I  did  not  yet  feel  myself  strong  enough  to 
hunt,  and  could  not  help  dwelling  upon  the  frightful  fate 
before  us  in  the  event  of  my  wound  proving  worse  than  I  an- 
ticipated. I  did  what  I  could  for  it  until  the  most  resistless 
drowsiness  overtook  me,  and  falling  upon  a  pile  of  skins,  I 
sunk  into  the  deep  sleep  consequent  upon  extreme  excitement 
and  loss  of  blood. 

I  was  waked  by  the  shrill  cries  of  the  woman,  and,  as  I 
sprang  to  my  feet  was  horrified  to  perceive  from  the  flushed  ap- 
pearance of  her  face,  her  wild  ejaculations  and  even  screams, 
that  she  was  suffering  from  a  raging  brain  fever.  Slie  tossed 
her  body  violently  to  and  fro,  moaning  as  she  pressed  her 
throbbing  head  convulsively  between  her  hands,  and  occasion- 
ally shrieking  at  the  top  of  her  voice  incoherently.  It  was  a 
melancholy  sight,  indeed.  I  knew  but  one  remedy  in  reach; 
and  if  there  had  been  a  thousand,  perhaps  none  would  have 
availed  so  well  as  the  simple  one  to  which  I  now  resorted, 
almost  upon  compulsion !  I  hobbled  to  the  spring  for  a  fresh 


THE  TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  319 

supply  of  its  cooling  craters.  Returning  -with  equal  difficulty, 
I  found  the  fever  even  gaining  in  violence.  It  was  certainly  an 
awful  sight :  this  stern,  heroic  woman  helplessly  tossed  in  blinded 
struggles  by  the  side  of  that  calm  and  gray  picture  of  death, 
which,  unmoved  by  it  all,  breathed  on  like  one  in  a  sweet  sleep. 
I  could  only  reduce  the  fever  gradually,  for  my  strength  was 
not  sufficient  to  lift  her,  and  for  hours  I  sat  beside  her,  sooth- 
ing, as  well  as  I  was  able,  her  convulsions,  by  constant  appli- 
cations of  cold  water.  It  was,  or  seemed  at  least,  a  weary 
time  before  I  gained  any  ground,  and  my  wound  broke  out 
afresh  from  the  excessive  fatigue;  besides,  I  was  fainting 
with  hunger  and  horror  combined.  At  last  I  thought  I  might 
venture  to  leave  her  awhile,  as  she  grew  more  composed,  and 
I  sought  some  food.  I  took  a  portion  of  our  small  supply 
and  rekindled  the  coals  of  the  smouldering  fire,  but  the  bleed- 
ing seemed  to  increase,  and  I  was  compelled  to  attend  to  my 
wounds  before  I  could  cook  the  flesh.  I  stopped  the  flow  of 
blood,  and  was  eating  sparingly  of  the  spare  meal,  when  I 
suddenly  became  aware  of  the  fact  that  I  was  the  keeper  of  a 
maniac  ! 

Hearing  a  sudden  noise  behind  me,  I  looked  around.  The 
woman, — with  flushed  face  and  glittering  eyes,  was  rapidly 
endeavoring  to  disengage  her  butcher  knife  from  the  sheath 
where  it  hung  on  the  belt  of  her  bullet  pouch,  which  I  had 
taken  off  and  suspended  on  its  usual  hook  of  buck's  horn. 
She  was  muttering  rapidly,  "I  will  do  it  myself!  yes!  yes! 
I  will  do  it  myself !  The  wretches  did  not  finish  their  work ! 
They  did  not  know  how  hard  it  was  for  a  god  to  die !  He  is  not 
dead — he  suffers  !  It  shall  not  be  !  They  sent  their  blood- 
hounds to  murder  a  true  Christ !  He  who  came  to  redeem  them ! 
They  struck  at  him  in  wrath !  They  did  not  finish  their  wor  k 
— but  I  will  do  it !  and  go  with  him  !" 

The  knife  was  in  her  hand,  and  she  was  darting  across  the 
room  towards  the  unconscious  man,  when  I,  who  had  risen 
in  the  meantime,  seized  her  suddenly,  and  with  a  shriek  as 


320  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

Blie  gazed  round  at  me,  she  struck  desperately  at  my  breaaS 
with  the  knife.  I  warded  off  the  blow,  and  she  dropped  it ! 
Then,  with  a  still  more  harrowing  cry,  she  fainted  across  the 
body. 

Never  was  horror  amplified  to  a  more  intolerable  extreme 
of  fear  and  dread  than  now,  in  all  my  experience  before  or 
since.  She  was  crazed, — we  were  nearly  out  of  food  of  any 
kind  ! — and  could  I  dare,  even  if  able,  to  go  out  and  leave  her 
here  alone?  It  seemed  just  as  shocking  to  me  to  confine  her 
with  thongs  as  to  leave  her  alone.  What  might  not  the 
furious  strength  of  a  maniac  accomplish  ? 

Here  was  a  climax !  I  acknowledge,  I  felt  in  no  hurry  to 
restore  her  from  her  fainting  fit.  Murder,  madness,  stupor 
and  starvation,  all  rose  in  appalling  succession  before  me. 

"  What  could  I  do  ?  What  should  I  do  ?  I  bowed  my  head 
upon  my  hands  and  wept,  —  completely  overcome  by  this 
tragic  combination  of  fearful  extremities. 

A  loud  hurrah,  accompanied  by  the  clatter  of  horses'  feet 
now  broke  the  stifling  stillness,  and  springing  u;  I  rushed 
forward,  or  rather  hobbled  earnestly  towards  the  door  to  see 
if  it  was  yet  secure. 

As  I  reached  it,  it  was  burst  open  violently,  and  in  rushed 

my  friend  C ,  the  planter !  followed  by  several  ncgros. 

lie  was  a  good-humored,  vehement,  boisterous  man,  and  ex- 
claimed, in  a  loud  voice,  as  his  eye  fell  upon  me : — 

"  Caught  at  last ! — Why  what's  all  this,  my  good  fellow  ?" 
looking  round  him,  in  astonishment  and  horror.  "  What 

sort  of  a  d 1's  den  is  this  you've  fallen  into  ? — have  you 

been  playing  the  '  Kilkenny  cats'  out  here  in  this  droll-look- 
ing place  ?  Are  those  two  people  dead  ?  What's  been  happen- 
ing?" 

"  We've  been  having  a  brush  with  tho  Cherokees, — these 
persons  are  wounded !" 

"  Hah  !  the  very  fellows  I've  just  been  drubbing.  They 
carried  the  bodies  of  several  killed  and  wounded.  You  must 


THE  TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  321 

have  had  close  work  of  it,  my  boy !  We  finished  the  business 
for  them,  though, — only  three  got  off?" 

"  Glad  of  it, — but  help  that  woman, — she  has  fainted." 

"  Great  God  ! — a  woman  here, — and  in  that  dress  ?" 

He  sprang  forward  to  the  bed  and  looked  at  her ! 

"  It  is  so, — as  I  am  alive.  Boys," — turning  to  the  negroes 
who  stood  at  the  door,  rolling  up  the  whites  of  their  eyes  in 
wonder  and  awe, — "run,  boys,  and  get  some  water, — you 
saw  the  spring  out  there  as  we  came  ?"  then  turning  to  me, 
with  a  broad  expression  of  amazement,  he  asked : — 

"  Who  can  these  people  be  ?  Did  they  drop  from  the  clouds  ? 
She's  wounded  !  Did  she  fight  too  ?" 

"  Indeed,  she  did, — she  did  the  most  of  it !" 

"  But  what  are  they  doing  here  with  all  this  droll  trump- 
ery ?  Did  she  faint  from  loss  of  blood  ?  Is  she  badly  hurt  ? 
This  old  man  looks  as  if  he  were  dead  ?"  So  he  ran  on,  and 
without  waiting  for  answer,  and  turning,  stepped  hastily  to 
the  door,  and  shouted  at  the  top  of  his  voice : — 

"  You  Tom  ! — Scip  ! — Jim  ! — come  along  with  that  water  ! 
Here  are  thoee  poor  people  dying,  and  you  lazy  vagabonds 
you — i.ii}  here  you  are!"  and  the  three  negroes  rushed  for- 
ward to  tkoj  door  of  the  room,  bearing  each  a  brimming  gourd 
in  one  L.iiid  and  his  rifle  in  the  other.  The  foremost  stam- 
mered out : — 

"  Heerd  you,  Massa, — was  comin'  fast  as  we  could, — but 
Jim  say  he  war  afraid  ob  dem  cu'rus  folks  and  dem  cunjura- 
tion  whe°is  thar, — he  was  'bout  to  slope,  an  I  cotch  he." 

"  Hang  Jim  and  his  conjurations  ! — give  me  the  gourd,  you 
rascal !" 

"  Da  he  am,  Massa !"  while  Jim,  thrusting  his  own  gourd 
from  behind,  into  the  hand  of  Tom,  did  "  slope"  out,  sure 
enough,  r^iing  his  big  eyes  behind  him  as  if  he  expected  to 
Bee  some  horrid  witch  in  pursuit. 

"  Here's  Jim's,  too  ! — nigger,  fool !  He  afeard  !  Here, 

21 


322  WILD  SCENES  AND  WILD  HUNTERS. 

Massa,  here's  Scip's,  too  !  He  fool !"  and  the  second  darkle 
glided  furtively  from  the  door,  looking  over  his  shoulder. 

The  Pinter  in  the  meantime  was  stooping  over  the  silent 
forms  of  the  couple,  and  administering  the  cooling  water  to 
them,  while  Tom  stood  by  and  looked  on  with  a  sort  of  half 
grin  of  heroical  indifference,  not  a  little  heightened  in  its  effect 
by  the  conscious  expression  of  superiority  and  trepidation 
which  still  lingered  upon  his  face,  since  he  looked  after  the 
hasty  retreat  of  his  sable  comrades  in  arms. 

"  She  recovers !"  said  the  good-hearted  Planter,  eagerly, 
lifting  his  head.  The  woman  opened  her  eyes  and  sprang 
half  erect,  uttering  at  the  same  time  a  sudden  shriek,  so  shrill 
that  I  involuntarily  placed  my  hands  upon  my  ears.  The 
Planter  stepped  backwards,  and  Tom,  in  spite  of  his  heroism, 
vanished  in  a  twinkle  out  of  the  door. 

"What  does  this  mean?"  said  C ,  glancing  quickly 

around  at  me.  "Is  she  crazy?"  and  he  sprang  towards  her, 
instinctively,  forcing  her  down  upon  the  bed,  while  he  turned 
his  head  slightly  to  listen  for  my  answer. 

"  Yes,  she  is, — hold  her  ! — hold  her  firmly  ! — she  is  not 
sane  now,  and  may  do  more  mischief!" 

"  I  understand  scalping, — but  this  infernal  den  is  too  much 
for  me !"  exclaimed  he,  as  he  pressed  her  down  to  the  bed 
again,  while  her  shrieks  redoubled,  and  her  struggles  became 
more  furious.  lie  was  a  very  strong  man,  and  yet  all  his 
strength  was  required  to  keep  her  down,  and  he  turned  to  me 
with  an  expression  of  exhaustion  and  flurried  distress,  as  he 
exclaimed, — "  Why  didn't  you  warn  me  of  this  ?" 

"I  had  no  time  !" 

"  One  word  would  have  sufficed !" 

"And  what  good  would  that  have  done?" 

"I  might  have  understood  something!" 

"  No  ! — you  could  not  have  known  more  after  an  explana- 
tion than  you  can  see !'' 


THE  TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  323 

"And  what  is  that?" 

"  Why,  you  perceive  that  the  woman  is  out  of  her  head, — 
has  a  brain  fever.  She  suffers  from  her  wound,  her  anxiety 
for  her  husband,  and  the  additional  excitement  of  the  late 
conflict,  that  is  all !" 

"  What  shall  we  do  ?"  he  asked,  in  dismay,  as  it  became 
every  moment  more  difficult  to  keep  her  down. 

"  I  must  call  the  negros  back, — for  I  can  be  of  little  assist- 
ance to  you !" 

"  The  stupid  fools  ! — you  can't  get  them  to  come  back  !" 

"Yes  I  can!"  and  seizing  his  rifle,  I  hobbled  to  the  door 
and  looked  out.  Tom  was  the  only  one  in  sight.  I  shouted 
to  him,  ordering  his  return.  The  fellow  shook  his  head,  and 
looked  furtively  askance  towards  me.  I  instantly  raised  the 
rifle,  and,  as  I  brought  it  to  bear  upon  him,  peremptorily 
ordered  his  return,  under  penalty  of  a  ball  through  his  woolly 
head.  The  habit  of  obedience  conquered  his  fears  in  a  mea- 
sure, and  he  came  back  with  a  slow,  unwilling  step. 

"  TVhy,  you  cowardly  rascal !"  I  said,  in  an  angry  and  con- 
temptuous tone,  which  I  thought  might  sting  and  rouse  his 
pride, — for  I  knew  he  was  really  a  brave  fellow,  but  super- 
stitious, as  were  all  his  class, — "  I  thought  you  had  some 
manhood  in  you, — a  great  big  lubber  like  you  to  run  away 
from  a  sick  and  wounded  woman !  I  am  ashamed  of  you,  Tom. 
Come  in  here,  your  master  needs  you  to  help  him  hold  her  I" 

"  Dat ! — dat ! — dat ! — no  woman,  Massa  !"  He  stammered 
hesitatingly,  as  he  looked  up  humbly  for  a  moment.  "  Dat 
witch, — she  make  poor  nigger  die  like  rotten  sheep  if  he 
touch  um !" 

"  I  tell  you,  you  fool,  the  woman  is  no  witch ;  she  is  a 
good  woman,  and  has  a  bad  fever,  and  does  not  know  what 
she  is  doing  !" 

"  But,  Massa,  what  all  dat  conjure-wheels  do  dar  if  she  am 
no  witch?"  he  persisted,  in  a  more  cheerful  voice,  but  still 
hanging  back. 


324  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

"  Why,  you  stupid  fellow ! — did  you  never  see  a  wheel, 
Tom  ?" 

"  Yes,  Massa,  but  den  dem  aint'  cart-weels !' 

"Fellow!"  said  I,  provoked  at  his  tenacious  stupidity, 
"  those  are  parts  of  small  machines,  and  can  hurt  neither  you 
nor  me.  Come  in,  this  moment,  without  another  word,  and 
assist  your  master  to  hold  the  woman  !" 

I  seized  him  by  the  collar  and  pushed  him  in,  saying,  as  I 
looked  significantly  at  my  rifle — 

"  Do  as  you  are  ordered,  or  remember  this  !" 

The  Planter,  who  was  nearly  exhausted  by  the  continued 
violence  of  the  convulsions,  when  he  saw  the  cowering  negro 
enter,  saluted  him  with  a  wrathful  oath,  which  we  will  be 
excused  from  repeating,  and  in  a  voice  of  thunder,  ordered  him 
to  seize  the  woman's  arms,  enforcing  his  command  with  a 
furious  kick,  followed  by  gentle  insinuation  that  he  would 
dash  his  brains  out,  if  he  dared  to  let  her  up.  Tom  took 
hold  evidently  with  fear  and  trembling,  but  still  with  all  his 
might. 

"  What  are  we  to  do  with  this  she-dragon  ?"  gasped  the 
poor  Planter,  wiping  the  sweat  from  his  brow.  "  It  will  take 
half-a-dozen  men  to  hold  her  at  this  rate — we  shall  have  to 
tie  her !" 

At  this  moment  an  extraordinary  change  came  over  the 
face  of  the  raving  woman.  The  face  of  the  negro — as  he 
stooped  above  her,  holding  her  arms  and  body  down — was,  of 
course,  immediately  over  hers.  The  moment  her  eyes  rested 
upon  it  she  ceased  to  struggle,  and  lay — gazing  fixedly  up  at 
it  without  moving  lip  or  muscle.  We  both  noticed  it  at  the 
same  moment,  and  almost  held  our  breath  to  watch  the  result. 

After  some  little  while,  she  began  to  speak  in  nearly  her 
ordinary  tone,  except  that  it  was  more  measured.  It  had 
before  been  so  shriekingly  incoherent,  that  we  could  only  dis- 
tinguish here  and  there  a  phrase. 

"  Yes  !  yes  !     Poor  child  of  persecution,  you  are  here  ! 


THE   TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  325 

Your  pale  tyrant  is  gone — he  was  my  tyrant,  too !  With  his 
foot  upon  your  neck,  he  clutched  with  bloody  hands  at  mine. 
Then  I  was  furious  because  I  must  be  free !  You  come  to 
console — because  the  oppressed  have  learned  to  know  what 
gentle  pity  is.  You  have  Cain's  mark  upon  your  clouded 
brow — but  so  has  truth.  There  is  the  allegory  !  '  The  meek 
shall  inherit  the  earth !' — •*  He  that  was  first  shall  be  last !' 
That  brow  shall  grow  bright  once  more — the  curse  shall  be 
annealed  ! — It  shall  grow  pure  and  white  with  love  and  truth 
— not  pale  of  fear — livid  with  murder,  and  flushed  with  the 
ghastly  mark  of  bloody  hands  !  I  hate  my  guilty  race  !"  she 
continued  to  murmur  in  a  lower  voice — "  I  hate  our  ferocious 
cowardice  !  We  dare  not  be  men  like  the  hunting  fathers  of 
thy  hunted  race — the  hairy  children  of  the  accursed  Cain ! 
We  dare  not  meet  brute  force  with  brute  force,  and  hand  to 
claw  grapple  with  the  lion  in  his  might !  We  sneak  behind 
our  cunning,  and  pervert  the  laws  of  mechanics — which  govern 
the  Universe,  rule  the  destinies  of  men  and  the  earth — into 
the  horrible  agents  of  wholesale  destruction  from  behind  our 
sheltered  ramparts !" 

"  Why,  what  is  the  woman  ranting  about  ?"  said  the  Planter 
nervously — turning  to  me  with  a  bewildered  look.  "  I  'most 
believe  she  is  a  witch  myself!  Who  ever  heard  such  wild 
gabble?  And  yet  she  talks  very  plain  !" 

She  had  stopped  when  he  spoke,  and  deliberately  turned 
her  eyes  upon  him,  and  I  saw  nothing  more  in  their  expression 
now  than  I  had  noted  from  the  first — a  sort  of  calm,  intense 
enthusiasm  or  stern  elevation.  So  far  as  appearances  went, 
the  crazy  fit  had  passed,  and  she,  if  not  restored  to  sanity, 
had  at  least  returned  to  her  habitual  mood  and  manner.  She 
spoke  very  coldly — 

"  Yes  ! — '  ranting  about  ?' — a  convenient  word  that !  I 
rant  when  you  either  will  not  or  dare  not  understand !  I 
rant  when  I  tell  you  truths  you  have  not  the  soul  or  the 
heart  to  face !  I  rant  when  I  tell  you  that  you  are  cither  an 


326  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    flUNTEKS. 

insensate  brute,  a  maudlin  fool,  or  a  selfish  tyrant ! — I  do 
not  mean  that  you  are  all  or  any  one  of  these  things  in  your 
own  responsible  deed — but  I  mean  that  you  and  I,  and  that 
young  man  there — our  whole  race  ! — deserve  such  epithets  ! — 
because  we  have  and  are  conspiring  together — without  con- 
cert, even — but  from  the  individual  selfishness  which  has 
either  been  educated  into  us  or  has  been  deliberately  assumed 
by  ourselves  in  spite  of  experience — to  oppress  our  fellow- 
men — not  of  one  color — but  of  all  I — of  our  own  !  Release 
me !"  and  with  a  sudden  effort,  she  threw  the  terrified  negro 
across  the  room  and  sprang  to  her  feet.  We  both  rose  to 
seize  her,  but  she  walked  with  the  utmost  calmness  of  look 
and  manner  right  up  to  the  astounded  Planter. 

"  Do  not  place  your  hands  upon  me  again.  I  am  perfectly 
myself  now.  I  know  I  have  been  delirious — I  am  not  so  any 
longer.  Forgive  what  I  have  said,  that  you  did  not  under- 
stand, and  done,  that  may  have  been  rude  and  violent,  for 
the  paroxysm  has  passed,  and  I  now  know  you  as  you  are. 
You  have  no  doubt  been  kind,  and  I  shall  thank  you  as  a 
brother !" 

My  friend  was  entirely  confounded  by  this  sudden  change, 
and  stared  at  the  woman  with  such  an  expression  of  almost 
ludicrous  surprise,  that  I  could  not  for  the  life  of  me  restrain 
a  slight  disposition  to  smile — particularly  when  I  caught  a 
glimpse  of  the  eager  and  abject  form  of  Tom  creeping 
stealthily  behind  her,  and  from  a  respectful  distance,  catch- 
ing, with  pricked  ears,  open  mouth,  and  wide  staring  eyes, 
every  word  that  fell  from  her  lips. 

"Does  lie  live?"  she  said  to  me,  as  she  turned  slowly 
towards  the  old  man,  and  bent  over  him — feeling  his  pulsa- 
tion— before  I  could  answer  she  looked  up — 

"  Yes !  it  is  all  well  as  yet.  Leave  him  to  me — he  will 
recover  soon  in  my  charge.  Thank  God  ! — he  was  insensible 
while  I  was  so! — was  lie  not?"  she  asked  eagerly,  turning 
her  head. 


THE   TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  327 

"Yes ;  he  has  not  moved  yet !" 

"  We  can't  leave  this  poor  woman  here  alone  !" — exclaimed 
my  friend,  with  returning  self-possession — "We  must  remove 
them  to  my  house  and  have  them  cared  for !" 

"No,  friend — that  cannot  be  !"  said  the  woman — "We  live 
here  or  we  die  here  !  If  you  wish  to  do  any  thing,  send  your 
slaves  here  with  provisions  and  some  simple  comforts.  Leave 
that  young  man  with  me,  and  we  will  nurse  him  ourselves  !" 

My  friend  was  about  to  answer  vehemently  with  his  usual 
rough  impatience  of  contradiction,  but  I  appealed  to  him  in  a 
beseeching  look  for  acquiescence — for  the  present  at  least. 
I  found  some  difficulty,  in  the  hurried  and  whispered  conver- 
sation which  ensued  while  she  turned  back  to  affectionate 
offices — in  convincing  him  that  it  was  best  to  let  this  strange 
and  unmanageable  woman  have  her  own  way — that  we  must 
humor  her,  or  we  could  do  nothing  for  her. 

He  finally  consented,  with  evident  reluctance,  to  remain 
with  me,  and  send  Tom  back  to  the  plantation  for  supplies. 
It  was  about  twenty  miles  distant,  and  we  might  expect  to 
hear  something  of  our  scout  by  mid-day  to-morrow.  When 
it  was  explained  to  Tom  what  was  expected  of  him,  he  accepted 
the  mission  with  astonishing  alacrity,  and  expressed  with 
eagerness,  in  his  own  quaint  fashion,  his  readiness  to  do 
every  thing  that  speed  and  energy  could  accomplish,  for  he 
said,  with  a  shamed  and  sneaking  glance  at  me — 

"  She  aint  no  witch — Jim  are  jes  the  nigger  fool  I  sed  he 
war !  She  be  a  good  woman,  massa ! — Tom  will  gib  he's 
scalp  fur  hur  any  time !"  and  springing  upon  his  horse  he 
galloped  away,  rifle  in  hand,  and  alone  across  these  dangerous 
wilds. 

"  Tom  is  all  right  now  I"  I  said,  with  an  attempt  at  a  smile 
as  we  turned  into  the  house. 

"  Yes ;  he's  brave  as  a  bull-dog,  when  he  knows  what  he's 
doing,"  answered  my  friend,  with  a  contemplative  look,  as  we 
turned  towards  the  round  house — "  But,  by  heaven  ! — I'd  like 


328  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS.] 

i 

to  know  where  he  gets  his  sudden  confidence  from — for  this 
woman  seems  now  almost  as  much  of  a  witch  to  me  as  she 
did  at  first  to  him !  She  must  be  either  a  witch  or  a  mad- 
woman !" 

"Nonsense  !"  said  I,  "she  is  neither!" 

I  reconciled  our  Planter,  in  some  degree,  to  what,  appa- 
rently, there  was  no  mode  of  escape  from,  and  on  re-entering 
the  house,  he  acted  with  considerable  circumspection,  not  a 
little  to  my  amusement ! — I  could  not  help  perceiving  that 
this  caution  was  not  a  little  tempered  with  awe. 

The  woman  continued  perfectly  quiet — administered  to  her 
husband  in  many  sagacious  though  unusual  ways,  and  he  evi- 
dently improved. 

Tom  returned  punctually  the  next  day,  bringing  with  him 
a  supply  of  creature  comforts  and  leading  my  horse.  I  was 
greatly  surprised  to  see  the  animal  back  again,  and  turning 
to  my  friend,  stared  him  in  the  face,  exclaiming — 

"  Why,  where  did  Tom  get  my  horse  ?  This  is  the  first  time 
I've  thought  of  him  since  the  fight — I  supposed  he  must  have 
been  carried  off  by  the  Cherokees  !" 

He  laughed  heartily,  while  Tom  grinned  his  broadest  grin. 

"Yah!  yah!  yah,  massa !  Dat  witch-er-woman  witch  he 
back  agin  !" 

Tom  had  brought  another  companion,  in  whose  pluck  he 
had  more  confidence,  I  suppose,  and  they  both  laughed  with 
great  apparent  enjoyment  at  this  sally.  My  friend  slapped 
me  on  the  shoulder  pleasantly — 

"  I'm  afraid  you  would  have  gone  off  on  a  broom-stick  sure 
enough,  but  that  your  horse  was  wiser  than  yourself,  and 
knew  his  way  home  better  !  We  took  his  back  trail,  expecting 
to  find  some  of  your  bones,  at  least,  and  it  brought  us  to  this 
place !" 

"  Well,  I  shall  learn  to  place  my  trust  in  horses  more  here- 
after— that  is  all !"  and  we  proceeded  to  arrange  our  stores. 
In  finding  places  to  deposite  them  around  the  single  chamber, 


THE  TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  329 

I  took  an  opportunity  to  examine  the  little  recess  of  which  I 
have  made  mention.  I  was  not  much  surprised  to  find  it 
filled  with  books — for  that  I  was  prepared  to  expect — but  for 
the  number  of  rare  and  valuable  works  upon  ONE  subject,  I 
had  never  seen  it  surpassed,  even  in  extensive  and  pretentious 
libraries.  They  were  nearly  all  works  upon  Social  Science, 
and  especially  in  its  relations  to  Mechanics.  I  had  only  time 
to  glance  hastily  over  the  titles,  but  they  impressed  me  quite 
as  strangely  as  had  the  appearance  of  the  room  and  its  wheels 
and  models  in  the  first  place.  This  discovery  only  served  to 
increase  my  curiosity. 

We  soon  had  every  thing  arranged  in  some  sort  of  rude 
comfort — and  as  it  was  too  late  for  any  body  to  return  to 
the  plantation,  my  friend  consented  to  remain  until  morn- 
ing. My  wound  proved  less  formidable,  now  that  there 
were  others  to  wait  upon  the  wounded.  The  old  man  was 
gradually  waking  and  the  woman  continued  perfectly  calm. 

Tom  was  very  active  now,  and  quickly  produced  for  us  an 
admirable  supper.  He  was  very  alert  in  serving  the  woman, 
and  would  jump  eagerly  at  her  slightest  gesture,  and  ran  to 
do  any  errand  she  might  require.  It  was  even  amusing  to 
observe  how  reverentially  he  watched  her  and  obeyed  the 
slightest  word  or  movement  of  the  hand,  and  even  endeavored 
to  anticipate  her  very  thought. 

She  received  it  all  as  a  matter  of  course,  merely  deigning 
the  acknowledgment  of  a  look.  She  seldom  spoke  to  us,  and 
then  it  was  in  an  abrupt  and  almost  imperative  manner,  which 
excessively  disgusted  my  Planter  friend — though  he  obeyed 
her  with  nearly  the  alacrity  of  Tom  himself — and  then  would 
come  back  to  me  growling  in  an  undertone,  most  furiously 
about — "  A  crazy  harriden  ! — an  insolent  virago  ! — a  ranting 
fanatic  ! — a  wier-woman  ! — a  witch  ! — a  she-devil,"  &c.  I  did 
not  pay  much  attention  to  all  these  expletives,  for  I  felt  how 
entirely  impulsive  they  were,  and  how  little  they  expressed  of 
his  real  feeling  about  her. 


330  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

"We  passed  the  night  quietly,  and  had  the  satisfaction  to 
find  in  the  morning  that  the  old  man  had  opened  his  eyes, 
and  after  his  bath,  seemed  entirely  conscious — recognizing 
me  with  a  smile,  and  my  friend  with  a  slight  hut  placid  move- 
ment of  the  head.  He  made  no  attempt  to  speak,  and  it 
soon  became  apparent  that  he  had,  temporarily,  at  least,  lost 
the  power  of  speech. 

We  were  all  greatly  shocked  at  discovering  this  sad  mis- 
fortune; hut  the  woman,  although  I  could  clearly  see  that 
she  shuddered  at  the  discovery,  remained  apparently  cool, 
and  only  remarked : — 

"  I  said  his  recovery  must  he  slow, — hut  whether  it  come 
or  not,  I  shall  be  content,  for  his  glorious  brain  has  been 
spared ;  I  can  see  that  in  his  clear,  firm  eye,  and  if  he  only 
recovers  the  use  of  his  hands  and  body,  the  great  work  may 
yet  be  accomplished !"  and  she  turned  off  about  her  domestic 
duties,  as  he  nodded  a  sublimely  placid  acquiescence, — at 
least  so  it  seemed  to  me ! 

The  Planter  was  early  ready  to  return, — telling  me  that 
he  would  send  over  a  servant  every  day,  or  come  himself  to 
see  how  we  were  getting  on.  He  offered  to  leave  Tom  with 
us,  but  I  had  stoutly  refused,  and  the  woman  peremptorily. 
Tom  brought  up  the  horses  the  Planter  had  mounted,  and 
the  other  slave  was  also  in  the  saddle,  when  Tom,  who  had 
been  standing  during  the  moments  of  leave-taking,  came  for- 

O  O  G' 

ward,  and  making  a  humble  bow  at  his  master's  stirrup,  said, 
in  a  faltering  voice : — 

"Massa! — you  please  to  gib  Tom  leave  to  stay  here  and 
wait  on  dis  gemmen  and  dat  sick  lady  ?" 

"  Why,  Tom,  she  wont  have  you,  my  good  fellow !  I've 
offered  to  leave  you  already  !" 

Tom  seemed  greatly  humiliated  by  this  speech,  and  bowed 
his  head  with  a  look  of  deep  mortification  for  a  moment,  and 
then  lifting  it  suddenly,  exclaimed,  with  a  droll  look  of  eager 
entreaty : — 


THE  TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  331 

"  Dat  no  matter  to  Tom,  Massa !  He  sleep  under  de  tree 
outside,  and  bring  de  wood,  and  fetch  de  water  from  de  spring, 
and  no  look  at  urn  if  she  no  like  it  for  Tom !" 

I  said  to  the  planter,  in  a  low  voice : — 

"  Perhaps  you  had  better  let  him  stay  !  The  poor  fellow 
seems  to  be  very  much  in  earnest,  and  may  be  of  assist- 
ance !" 

"  You  know  I  wanted  you  to  keep  him, — but  what  will 
this  virago  inside  say  to  it  ?  I  believe  she  has  bewitched  him 
already, — do  you  think  she  won't  whisk  him  off  on  a  broom- 
stick, nor  anything  of  that  sort  ?" 

"  0,  no !  I'll  make  his  peace  with  her, — I'll  engage  !  but 
I  want  him  to  stay  now, — because  this  sudden  and  unexpected 
sort  of  sympathy  and  veneration  for  this  woman  interests  me, 
and  I  wish  to  trace  its  real  cause, — at  present  it  is  entirely 
inexplicable!" 

"  0,  very  good !  Tom,  you  may  stay.  It  seems  as  curious 
to  me  as  to  you.  I  shall  come  over  as  often  as  I  can  to  see 
you  all, — but,"  he  added,  leaning  down  from  his  saddle  and 
speaking  in  a  whisper : — "  I  want  you  to  beware  how  Tom 
hears  any  more  of  her  fanatical  talk  about  Cain  and  the 
darkies, — such  things  always  lead  to  mischief,  and  I'm  half 
afraid  that  is  why  Tom  has  so  soon  got  over  his  scare  about 
her!" 

"Yes! — yes!"  I  answered,  with  a  smile, — "I'll  see  to 
Tom's  morals." 

"  Then,  good-by,  and  look  sharp  for  witches  and  Red- 
skins !" 

So  saying,  he  struck  spurs  into  his  horse  and  gallopped 
off  beneath  the  mossy  hung  boughs,  followed  by  his  servant, 
while  Tom,  with  great  glee,  unharnessed  his  horse  and  led 
him  off  to  stake  him  out  near  mine.  His  manner  was  comi- 
cally exulting,  as  I  watched  him  until  nearly  out  of  view. 
He  would  throw  his  head  far  back,  seeming  to  be  in  a  parox- 
ism  of  low  laughter, — the  chuckling  sound  of  which  would 


332  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD  HUNTERS. 

just  reach  me ;  he  would  occasionally  toss  up  his  arms  in 
exultation,  or  jump  into  the  air,  striking  his  heels  together 
twice  or  thrice  e'er  he  came  down,  and  make  sundry  other 
antics,  to  the  evident  astonishment  of  his  horse,  who  would 
suddenly  jerk  backwards,  while  Tom,  in  total  unconsciousness, 
would  tug  away  at  the  lariat,  uttering  some  comical  expletive, 
until  he  got  him  started  again,  and  then  go  on  rejoicing ! 

I  did  not  mention  the  circumstance  to  the  woman,  having 
determined  that  she  and  Tom  might  settle  the  affair  after 
their  own  fashion.  For  several  days  I  could  see  nothing 
of  him,  though  the  wood  and  water  necessary  for  us  was 
regularly  deposited  at  the  door.  The  woman,  or  myself  as 
it  happened,  would  take  it  in ;  and,  as  she  made  no  comment 
upon  the  obvious  singularity  of  the  circumstance,  I  did  not, 
of  course,  allude  to  it.  Indeed,  the  terms  of  our  intercourse 
were  so  monosyllabic  that  I  could  only  speak  to  her  concern- 
ing matters  of  plain  necessity.  Her  wound  had  to  be  cared 
for,  but  most  of  all  that  of  the  husband !  She  sometimes 
remembered  to  cook,  but  when  she  did  not  do  so  I  attended 
to  that  necessary  duty  myself.  My  friend  had  not  returned 
as  I  expected,  nor  had  we  heard  a  word  from  him  as  yet. 

The  husband  grew  better  with  unexpected  rapidity,  and 
when  he  finally  was  able,  with  slight  assistance,  to  resume 
his  accustomed  chair,  it  was  a  grand  occasion  with  us ;  for 
the  woman  had  evidently  clung  with  a  pertinacity,  which  was 
still  afraid  to  precipitate  its  despair,  to  the  hope  that  when 
he  had  recovered  the  use  of  his  constitutional  strength  suffi- 
ciently to  be  able  to  use  his  limbs  for  locomotion,  the  faculty 
of  speech  would  return  to  him — therefore  she  had  applied 
herself  to  the  restoration  of  his  physique  exclusively,  and  had, 
with  an  obvious  feeling  of  trepidation,  avoided  calling  out 
from  him  the  slighcst  attempt  at  using  his  voice.  Now  came 
the  shock  in  full !  We  had  stated  him  in  the  chair,  and  he 
glanced  around  with  a  beaming  look  upon  the  instruments  of 
his  labor.  He  even  picked  them  up,  such  as  were  near  him, 


THE  TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  333 

With  an  affectionate  familiarity,  and  seemed  to  think  of 
resuming  his  labors  where  he  left  them  off.  Her  eyes  brimmed 
and  glistened  as  she  watched  him,  and  when  he  took  up  his 
magnifying  glass  she  leaned  forward,  suddenly,  and  asked, 
with  an  eager  and  hopeful  expression : — 

"William,  is  the  light  good?" 

He  nodded  his  head  pleasantly,  but  spoke  no  word ;  she 
turned  pale  at  this,  and  said,  in  an  agonized  voice,  while  with 
blue  and  parted  lips  she  hung  upon  his  answer: — 

"  William,  why  do  you  not  speak  ?" 

He  made  an  inarticulate  movement  of  the  lips,  raised  his 
finger  to  them,  and  shook  his  head  sadly.  She  clasped  her 
hands  and  staggered  backwards,  but  I  caught  her.  For  one 
minute  she  was  motionless,  except  a  slow  shivering  of  the 
body ;  and  with  rigid  features  and  lips  compressed,  leaned 
against  me,  with  such  an  expression  of  hopeless  abandon,  that 
I  could  not  help  the  tears  springing  to  my  eyes.  She  soon 
recovered  her  self-possession,  and  raising  herself  erect,  she 
coldly  remarked : — 

"  He  can  at  least  talk  for  humanity  in  deeds;  his  eyes  have 
language  enough  for  us  to  converse." 

From  this  time  she  seemed  to  me  as  one  stricken ;  she 
moved  about  in  tearless  silence, — never  speaking  to  me, 
except  when  compelled,  and  then  only  in  monosyllables. 

She  never  attempted  to  speak  to  him  again,  except  by  looks 
or  signs,  of  which  they  had  in  a  few  days  established  a  simple 
but  sufficiently  significant  system.  I  never  heard  this  woman 
complain  once  of  her  wound,  though  it  was  clearly  a  severe 
one,  and  she  must  have  suffered  greatly.  She  went  calmly 
on  as  usual,  watching  every  want  of  her  husband,  and  even 
anticipating  many.  He  had  recovered  sufficiently  now  to  be 
able  to  resume  his  labor,  and  she  kept  near  him  all  the  time, 
seeming  to  understand  perfectly  the  effect  of  every  new 
combination  attempted,  and  the  purpose  which  was  to  be 
attained. 


334  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

So  much  was  she  absorbed,  that  she  never  appeared  to 
notice  the  fact  that  we  had  heard  nothing  from  my  friend, 
the  planter,  and  that  still  our  stores  of  provisions,  wood  and 
water,  did  not  appear  to  diminish  in  the  least,  and  that  I  had 
only  to  hobble  to  the  door  to  bring  them  in  each  morning. 
She  asked  no  questions,  and  saw  nothing  but  what  was  required 
for  her  husband. 

My  life  now  grew  horribly  monotonous.  The  eternal  silence, 
broken  only  by  an  occasional  word  to  me,  which  had  sole 
reference  to  some  one  of  the  details  of  our  material  wants ; — 
that  dumb  worker,  so  earnestly  plying  his  curious  and  delicate 
labors ; — that  stern,  and  almost  sleepless  watcher,  whose  eyes 
were  always  upon  him,  and  who  scarcely  seemed  to  be  aware  of 
my  presence ; — that  noiseless  guardianship  over  our  necessities 
from  without; — all  taken  together,  had  such  an  effect  upon 
my  imagination,  that  sometimes  I  really  believed  myself  to  be 
in  a  dream,  and  that  the  whole  of  these  surroundings  were 
unreal  as  drifting  phantasmagoria  through  the  skies  of  cloud- 
land. 

I  had  noticed  for  some  days  past  that  the  eyes  of  the  woman 
shone  with  an  unusual  brightness,  and  that  to  all  my  questions 
with  regard  to  her  wound  she  gave  either  evasive  or  abrupt 
answers.  The  ball  had  not  yet  been  extracted,  to  my  knowl- 
edge, though  I  had  good  reason  to  believe  that  this  stern 
being  had  attempted  to  cut  it  out  herself  in  private.  In 
so  deep  a  wound  there  would  be,  of  course,  a  severe  and 
dangerous  sloughing.  She  had  given  me  no  sort  of  oppor- 
tunity to  judge  how  far  it  had  progressed,  for,  like  a  wounded 
panther,  she  went  sullenly  apart  to  live  or  die  alone  at  the 
feet  of  her  mate. 

I  was  inexpressibly  shocked  to  notice  these  dreary  symp- 
toms, and  isolated  and  unsympathetic  as  our  relations  were, 
and  had  been,  I  wept  like  a  child  when  I  saw  her  at  last 
fall  upon  the  bed  her  husband  had  so  lately  occupied,  and 
with  the  first  expression  of  utter  helplessness  I  had  yet  heard 


THE  TEXAN  HUNTRESS.  335 

from  her,  exclaim  : — "  It  is  all  over  !  The  struggle  is  closed 
for  me  !  He  will  finish  the  work  alone  !" 

I  reached  her  side  as  soon  as  possible.  She  was  most  pain- 
fully haggard,  and  her  eyes  were  distended  to  a  degree  which 
made  their  expression  seem  peculiarly  ghastly.  She  recog- 
nized me  with  a  smile  of  such  genial  sweetness,  as  for  the 
first  time  showed  me  directly  the  infinite  depth  and  tenderness 
of  that  strong  heart.  She  had  never  revealed  herself  to  me 
before,  so  that  I  felt  her  recognition ;  she  had  kept  all  her 
sympathies  with  an  austere  exclusiveness  for  her  husband, 
and  those  she  had  given  to  me  were  merely  general,  such  as 
she  would  have  given  to  any  other  member  of  the  human 
family.  She  beckoned  me  to  come  to  her.  I  came  and 
threw  myself  on  my  knees  by  the  side  of  her  couch,  she 
placed  her  hand  upon  my  head,  saying,  in  a  low,  solemn 
voice : — 

"  My  son,  while  I  am  yet  strong  enough,  I  wish  to  explain 
much  to  you  that  you  neither  have  nor  could  have  compre- 
hended. I  seem  to  you,  no  doubt,  a  wild  and  incomprehen- 
sible fanatic — my  husband  a  dreamer  !  Neither  idea  is  the 
true  one.  We  are  both  enthusiasts — and  love  our  common 
purpose  more  than  we  love  each  other — for  a  great  thought 
is,  and  should  be,  far  more  sacred  than  any  passion.  Love 
is  only  spiritualized  in  reality  when  two  souls  meet  in  the 
same  idea  I  Animals  have  passions,  even  stronger  than  ours 
— but  have  they  a  purpose  ?  They  have  the  purpose  of  living. 
We  have,  or  ought  to  have,  a  higher  !  We  have  something 
more  to  do  than  to  '  live,  and  move,  and  have  a  being' — we 
have  to  work  I  Work  for  what  ?  For  its  men  and  women — 
its  animals,  its  birds,  its  insects,  its  fishes,  its  reptiles,  its 
monsters,  anthropophagi,  and  all  \ — Work  to  elevate,  enlarge, 
expand — to  beautify — to  glorify  !  Work  to  make  the  flowers 
like  those  we  know  in  dreams — the  trees  express  our  thoughts 
of  overshadowing  strength  and  love — the  rocks,  of  grandeur 


336  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

— the  mountains,  of  sublime  !     We  must  unchain  the  winter 
— quell  the  torrid  sun ! — 

We  must  charm  the  water — make  its  sedges  spread- 
Must  -win  all  bitter  berries  up  and  make  them  turn  to  bread ! 
E'en  the  insensate  sod 

Must  wake  to  know  its  life, 
To  feel  it  has  a  God, 
And  join  the  upward  strife! 

So  she  spoke,  in  a  rapid,  distinct  manner,  for  some  moments, 
and  then  abruptly  ceased.  This  wild  and  half-poetical  rhap- 
sody impressed  me  quite  as  solemnly  as  the  mythical  mutterings 
of  a  Pythoness  would  have  done,  and  I  could  make  no  reply. 
Very  soon  she  commenced  speaking  again,  in  a  voice  still 
more  subdued. 

"  This  sounds  to  you  as  altogether  vague,  because  the 
thoughts  are  new.  But  do  you  know  these  thoughts  are  as 
old  as  humanity  ?  Men  have  always  thought  so — when  they 
had  brains  to  think  with ;  they  have  not,  except  in  isolated 
instances,  dared  to  speak  what  they  knew  !  They  have  hidden 
their  sense  in  allegories — they  have  spoken  in  double  mean- 
ings— or  they  have  demonstrated  in  words.  This  was  not 
sufficient.  Mankind  requires  something  more  than  words  ! 
The  hieroglyphics  of  our  infancy,  as  a  race,  must  not  be  ren- 
dered into  demonstration  alone — but  into  physical  realities. 
We  must  speak  in  creations — like  Gods  ! — if  we  wish  to  be 
worthy  of  our  trust.  We  must  prove  that  he — and  we  ! — 
possessing  the  '  one  talent' — (which  simply  means  our  earth)  ! 
are  worthy;  and  that  it  may  not  be  given  to  Mm  possessing 
five  !  In  a  word,  we  shall  not  and  cannot  wrap  that  *  one 
talent  in  a  napkin  !'  We  must  work  in  our  own  despite  and 
for  our  own  self-respect — must  be  doing  for  the  good  of  others, 
as  well  as  ourselves  !" 

"  But  how  ?"  said  I,  humbly — "  It  is  easy  enough  to  dig !" 

"  0  yes  ! — to  delve  is  the  lot  of  our  race  !     But  we  must 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTKESS.  837 

dig  up  liill — moles,  and  all  low  beasts  and  reptiles  climb 
towards  the  apex,  Aspiration  has  no  wings  ! — It  climbs  ! — 
it  does  not  soar  ! — all  that  even  Shakspeare  says  is,  that 

'  Aspiration  breedeth  wings !' 

We  mast  cultivate  the  facility — the  habit  of  going  up  will 
soon  accustom  us  to  new  ideas  and  modes  of  thought  that 
had  never  been  suggested — but  I  wander !  The  relation 
which  I  intended  to  give  you  is  a  very  simple  one.  You 
asked  me  how  we  should  work  ?  I  will  tell  you  how  1  have 
worked,  and  why  ? 

"  I  was  poor  as  strength  always  is !  The  knaves  starve 
wisdom  because  it  is  child-like  !  I  was  a  daughter  of  New 
England — I  was  proud  and  self-reliant — I  determined  very 
early  in  my  life  that  I  would  support  myself !  My  parents, 
from  whom  my  plan  met  but  little  sympathy,  of  course  opposed 
violently  my  purpose  to  go  to  some  great  cotton  mill,  and 
work  there  for  my  own  support.  They  were  poor,  too,  but 
proud  of  an  ancestral  position ;  they  could  and  would  not  resign 
it,  as  they  supposed,  to  ignoble  associations !  We  had  a  long 
and  bitter  struggle — the  amount  of  which  was,  that  I  learned 
to  hate  most  heartily  their  cowardly  apprehension  of  the 
'  say-so'  of  the  world  !  I  carried  my  point,  and  must  acknowl- 
edge that,  for  one  day,  my  romantic  delusion  with  regard 
to  the  general  idea  of  associated  labor  in  public  mills  and 
manufactories,  was  nearly  kept  up — but  the  filth  and  want 
of  ventilation  first  shocked  me. 

"In  a  few  hours  after  the  excitement  of  my  new  posi- 
tion had  passed,  I  began  to  feel  myself  stifled — my  mouth 
was  dry  and  my  lungs  suffered  from  the  cotton-lint,  which 
filled  the  air  in  infinite  particles.  I  nearly  fainted  when  we 
were  turned  loose  late  in  the  evening,  and  the  sensation  Avas 
little  decreased  when  I  returned  to  my  room  in  one  of  the 
regular  boarding  houses.  It  was  an  affair  of  seven  by  six, 
without  a  pretence  of  ventilation,  and  contained  two  beds. 


338  WILD    SCENES    AND    WILD    HUNTERS. 

"  The  food  was  horrible !  The  mercenary  wretches  em- 
ployed to  grind,  and  starve,  and  rot  the  life  out  of  several 
thousand  helpless  girls,  proved  worthy  of  their  employers  ! 
They  were  just  as  ruthless  barterers  in  human  flesh  as  hell 
could  ask,  or  millionaires  applaud  ! 

"  Since,  I  have  walked  in  the  track  of  plague,  leprosy, 
cholera,  and  fever — but  I  have  never  seen  any  thing  so 
humiliating  to  personal  dignity — so  oppressive  to  individual 
health — so  brutal  in  regard  to  the  ordinary  sympathies  as  the 
whole  system  of  these  mills.  The  poor  children  of  strength 
and  poverty  die  off,  as  regularly  as  the  moths  of  the  silk- 
worm, in  three  or  four  years  at  the  most — or  else  they  con- 
geal into  a  sort  of  old-maid-withered  state,  which,  in  its 
wrinkled  and  horrid  distortions,  is  more  monstrous  than  any 
thing  this  side  the  English  colliers ! — according  to  Parlia 
mentary  Reports! 

"  I  could  not  be  a  slave  !  I  would  not  be  a  minion.  I  left 
the  mills — I  left  my  family  with  the  determination  to  work 
somehow — to  redeem  the  earth  from  this  great  evil. 

"  This  was  a  vast  undertaking  for  a  poor  forlorn  female. 
But,  nevertheless,  I  had  strong  feelings  that  something  could 
be  done,  even  by  one  so  humble  as  myself.  But  first  I  had 
to  earn  my  own  bread,  and  as  my  education  had  been  good, 
and  I  had  read  eagerly  since  my  early  childhood,  I  thought 
myself  qualified  to  act  as  governess,  and  advertised.  I  soon 
found  a  place.  It  happened  to  be  in  a  rich  and  visionary 
family,  every  member  of  which  had  mounted  some  particular 
hobby  of  its  own.  I  thought  myself  in  heaven  for  awhile, 
but  soon  began  to  perceive  that  hobbies  arc  hobbies. 

"  I  found  this  family  of  world-saviours — for  no  one  of  them 
was  any  thing  short ! — the  most  intense  self-ists  I  had  ever 
met.  The  only  merit  they  possessed  was  obstinacy.  Each 
one  held  to  his  or  her  opinion  with  a  ludicrous  pertinacity, 
and  the  house  was  one  continuous  Babel  of  controversy.  All 
the  reform  topics  of  the  day  were  thus  continually  dinned 


THE   TEXAX   HUNTRESS.  339 

into  niy  ears,  and  the  running  commentary  upon  this  anxioua 
care  for  humanity  was  furnished  in  the  dissolute  habits  of  the 
family.  A  more  vicious,  mean,  and  cowardly  set  of  knaves 
and  beasts  I  never  saw  congregated  in  one  household.  It 
was  a  perfect  epitome  of  the  vices  of  civilization.  With  an 
immense  inherited  fortune  and  entire  leisure,  they  united 
untameable  passions  and  great  intellectual  activity — without 
one  particle  of  faith  or  of  honor.  Each  mounted  a  hobby 
because  it  was  the  fashion,  and  rode  it  until  '  the  galled  jade 
winced!'  The  passion  for  notoriety,  which  predominated 
among  them,  was  inexorable.  All  the  lustful  vices  a  corrupt 
humanity  ever  dreamed  of,  were  practised  among  them.  These 
were  absolutely  carried  to  hideous  excesses,  and  I  became  a 
victim. 

"  The  family  were  very  handsome,  and  the  oldest  son  was 
magnificently  so.  He  early  cast  his  eyes  upon  me.  His 
advances  were  very  subtle.  He  discovered  my  tendency 
towards  what  are  called  liberal  views,  and  upon  that  key-note 
his  skill  was  Satanic  as  his  will  was  invincible.  He  imbued 
me  fully  with  the  knowledge  of  all  modern  isms — libertinism 
amono-  the  rest — in  the  end  !  Nothing  that  clairvovance  has 

O  SJ  *t 

guessed,  Swedenborg  dreamed,  or  Fourier  idealised,  but  that 
I  heard  it  all  in  his  soft  musical  tones,  breathed  insidiously 
against  my  cheek.  I  believed  it  all,  and  believed  him.  My 
ruin  was  the  consequence,  as  I  have  hinted.  I  bore  him  a 
child !  The  wretch  had  removed  me  from  my  place,  and 
deserted  me  before  the  child  was  born  !  Why  should  I  de- 
scribe the  sufferings  of  a  strong  nature  under  such  a  wrong  ? 
Like  natures  understand  them  better  without  description !  A 
friend  who  knew  and  loved  me,  a  just  and  righteous  man, 
adopted  the  child  of  shame,  and  has  done  well  by  him. 

One  dark  night,  beneath  a  murky  lamp,  I  met  and  stabbed 
the  villain,  in  the  place  where  I  had  awaited  him  for  hours. 
He  knew  me  as  he  fell,  and  I  laughed  in  his  dying  ear.  I 
fled  the  country,  of  cour?<2,  and  came  to  Texas.  In  Galveston 


340  WILD    SCENES   AND   "WILD    HUNTERS. 

I  met  this  man — my  husband.  I  had  lived  there  for  several 
years,  teaching  the  only  regular  school  they  had  in  the 
country.  I  had,  after  a  fearful  struggle,  gained  a  sort  of 
resignation. 

"  But  once  I  heard  some  ribald  fellows  of  that  rude  society 
ridiculing  a  "crazy  old  cove,"  as  they  called  him.  They  said 
he  did  nothing  but  '  work !  work  I  work !  all  day ;  and  that 
nobody  could  understand  whal;  the  poor  old  fool  was  doing 
with  his  wheels  and  his  stupid  machines.' 

"  I  at  once  determined  to  know  this  man  !  To  be  abused 
by  such  fellows  was  enough  to  persuade  me  in  his  favor.  I 
went  to  see  him.  I  found  him  as  you  have  seen  him — a 
mighty  intellect  with  a  feeble  physique  !  We  became  friends 
at  once.  My  enthusiasm  had  only  been  '  driven  in' — so  to 
say,  and  now  came  rushing  back  to  the  surface  of  expression. 
I  found  him  alone,  and  almost  helpless.  He  had  no  one  to 
care  for  him,  and  could  not  care  for  himself — for,  although 
he  possessed  some  means,  he  was  too  much  abstracted  to 
notice  minor  details  of  comfort — so  he  lived  in  the  most  pain- 
fully squallid  mariner.  He  did  his  own  cooking,  and  made 
his  bed  once  a  week — for  he  would  not  have  a  servant  about 
him,  because  he  feared  he  might  disturb  his  work — the 
apparent  chaos  of  which  was  his  order ! 

"  I  talked  with  this  man, — for  he  talked  then  !  long  and 
eagerly.  He  told  me  much  that  satisfied  me.  He  showed 
me  that  the  reform,  for  which  so  many  true  and  devoted 
spirits  were  really  laboring,  was  a  different  thing  from  the 
cant  of  the  professional  reformers.  They  prayed  in  public 
places  to  be  "seen  of  men;"  they,  who  are  in  earnest,  pray 
in  deeds,  and  not  in  words  ;  and  neither  do  they  let  the  right 
hand  know  what  the  left  hand  doeth  ! 

"  He  showed  me  that  the  popular  schemes  of  reform  were 
all  purely  theoretical.  That  they  could,  and  would  accom- 
plish nothing  direct !  That  all  true  reforms  must  begin  in  the 
physical !  That  men  were  moved  only  through  material  mean* 


THE   TEXAN   HUNTRESS.  341 

and  that  it  was  through  such  means  that  the  material  was  to 
be  reached  and  elevated.  That  the  laws  of  Mechanics  were 
the  laws  of  the  universe  in  dimuendo  !  and  that  the  hatreds, 
the  oppressions,  the  crimes,  the  monstrosities  of  our  social 
system,  were  only  to  be  reached  through  Mechanics !  The 
law  of  order  was  supreme,  and  this  law  required  a  material 
medium.  Mankind  was  only  to  be  emancipated  into  leisure  to 
cultivate  the  spiritual  by  the  aid  of  machinery  ! — of  rail-roads, 
canals,  &c. !  Then  the  working  classes  would  have  leisure, 
leisure  to  think  and  feel ;  leisure  to  cultivate  the  arts ;  to 
make  the  flowers  grow  ! 

"  But,  yet,  as  he  taught,  they  need  a  higher  Mechanics ! 
They  have  steam,  and  air  and  electricity, — they  have  appro- 
priated the  water  and  the  gasses, — brutes,  minerals,  vegeta- 
tion,— all ! — but  one  Power  I  superior  to  them  all ! 

"  The  law  of  gravitation  is  the  law  of  labor,  of  life,  and  of 
progress  I  This  great  law  remains  to  be  conquered !  We  have 
conquered  the  elements  and  made  them  our  slaves  ! — how 
slow  they  carry  us  !  We  want  to  rein  the  law  that  governs 
spheres  ! 

"He  was  making  the  audacious  attempt!  He  overwhelmed 
me  with  the  calm  profundity  of  his  knowledge — he  dazzled  me 
in  a  very  different  sense  from  that  first  dazzle,  which  was 
delirious,  and  simply,  simple  !" 

She  placed  her  hands  upon  her  eyes,  and  they  looked  very 
thin  and  feeble  !  A  shudder  passed  through  her  frame.  She 
muttered : — 

"  He  dared  attempt  the  ' perpetual  motion,'  and  I  dedicated 
my  life  to  him — but  more  to  the  great  thought !  We  came 
apart  from  civilization,  and  made  us  a  home  here  by  the 
unaided  labor  of  our  own  hands.  Here  he  has  worked  and 
I  have  slaved,  to  the  mighty  thought  that  Gfod  may  reveal 
himself  in  Mechanics  I  as  well  as  by  other  revelations, — and 
the  children  of  Eve  be  thus  released  from  all  slavery  !" 


342  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

She  fell  back  upon  her  pillow,  and,  as  I  started  to  my  feet, 
a  strange,  dull  cry  came  from  the  husband ! 

She  was  dead  I  I  turned  my  head  in  horror  from  the 
realization  of  the  scene,  and  there  was  Tom,  crouching  close 
beside  me,  with  his  eyes  rolled  up  in  such  an  expression  of 
horror  and  sympathy,  that  I  was  even  more  profoundly  moved. 
He  had  evidently  crept  in,  and  been  listening  to  everything 
she  said  ! 

Poor  Tom !  He  buried  this  strange  woman  with  many 
tears,  and  then  we  took  the  old  man  back  to  the  Planter's 
house,  with  all  his  wheels  and  models ;  but  he  soon  fell  into 
idiocy,  and  died  not  long  after,  leaving  his  life's  labor  in  the 
hands  of  strangers,  to  come  to  nothing  I — as  all  attempts  must 
do  at  asserting  the  prerogative  of  Divinity  Himself — whose 
life  is  the  only  perpetual  motion  that  can  exist  in  the  Universe! 
Here  was  a  sad  and  stern  first  lesson  of  the  presumption 
which  goeth  aside  in  the  confidence  of  its  own  strength  to 
search  after  the  "  strange  gods," — yet,  alas,  it  was  in  vain 
for  me,  as  I  only  came  forth  from  this  experience  a  mere 
cold  and  impious  doubter. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

METAPHYSICS    OF    BEAR-HUNTING. 

THERE  are  those  who  can  learn  nothing  through  the  ex- 
reriences  of  others,  however  impressively  presented;  who 
uust  hear,  3ee,  taste,  sniell  and  feel  for  themselves,  before 
'.Ley  can  understand  the  most  self-evident  truths.  The  knock- 
3^wn  argument  is  the  only  one  that  has  availed  wMi  me  for 
evil  or  for  good;  and  that,  it  seems,  I  was  to  have  the  full 
benefit  of,  before  the  frantic  scepticism,  which  had  fastened 
upon  this  period  of  my  life,  could  be  reached.  The  passion 
of  the  hunter-naturalist  for  solitary  communion  with  the  soul 
of  nature,  which  had  strengthened  the  life  of  my  childhood 

343 


344  WILD   SCENES    AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

and  youth  into  the  holier  calms  of  full  contentment,  had  now 
become  so  morbidly  distorted  that  this  solitude  was  terrible, 
unless  filled  with  the  action  and  excitement  of  danger.  My 
late  adventure,  from  the  still  farther  confusion  in  which  it 
involved  my  spiritual  and  mental  sense,  proved  only  the 
incentive  to  yet  more  blind  and  headlong  plunges,  into — I 
knew  and  cared  not  what — desperate  extremes  of  adventure. 

I  hurriedly  parted  with  my  friend  C ,  determined  to 

push  on  to  the  uttermost  verge  of  settlement,  or  even  beyond 
if  might  be ! 

Now,  by  way  of  parenthesis,  as  to  this  novel  metaphysics, 
upon  an  exposition  of  which  I  am  about  to  enter,  I  would  say, 
if  there  be  sermons  in  stones,  and  the  minnow-rippled,  silvery- 
gabbling  brooks  be  all  oracular,  and  the  mute  trees  yet  panto- 
mime of  homilies, — not  to  speak  of  the  obstreperous  tongue, 
nimble-stroked,  of  "cross,  quick  lightning,"  which,  "in  the 
dead  vast,  and  middle  of  the  night"  doth  fright  us  with  its 
ethics, — if,  I  say,  these  have,  every  one,  high  teachings  of 
their  own,  why  may  there  not  be  more  in  the  metaphysics 
of  bear-hunting  than  has  been  dreamed  of  in  any  fire-side 
philosophy  ? 

I  am  human  enough  to  love  this  linking  of  the  invisible 
with  forms ;  this  association  with  the  material  gives  it  to  the 
palpable.  Every  thought  of  mirth,  or  vision  of  delight,  is 
ours  forever,  when,  clothed  in  fit  habiliments,  we  have  given 
it  "a  local  habitation  and  a  name." 

"These  are  the  adept's  doctrines;  every  element 
la  peopled  with  its  separate  race  of  spirits  ; 
The  airy  sylph  on  the  blue  ether  floats, 
Deep  in  the  earthy  caverns  skulks  the  gnome, 
The  sea-green  Naiad  skims  the  ocean  billow, 
And  the  fierce  fire  is  yet  a  friendly  home 
To  its  peculiar  sprite,  the  Salamander  !" 

Now,  though  I  have  no  special  dealing  at  present  with  the 
Bylph,  Naiad,  Gnome,  or  Salamander,  I  would  submit  whether 


METAPHYSICS    OF   BEAR   HUNTING.  345 

the  century-lived  glory  of  that  antique  Faith  be  not  referable 
to  this  "bodying  forth"  of  rare  ideals,  with  all  the  circumstance 
of  an  "  earthly  house,"  a  name — of  the  chisel  and  the  pencil! 
So  in  these  latter  times,  when  a  truth  comes  to  us  out  from 
the  Infinite,  that  is  to  abide  with  us,  it  is  sent,  not  with  the 
destroying  splendors  of  its  source,  but  through  the  gross  types 
of  sense,  wearing  the  shapes  of  most  familiar  creatures,  or 
actino-  through  the  common  elements  of  things. 

O  O  £J 

Miracles 

Are  so  impounded  now  by  the  stern  laws 
Of  sentient  things,  that  poor  short-sighted  reason, 
Yielding  the  divination  up  to  Faith, 
Submits  these  revelations  under  rule, 
As  only  given  to  her  far  ken  I 

Miracles  are  above  us,  around  us,  and  beneath  us ;  it  is 
only  when  the  higher  sense  bends  its  inner  vision  upon  them, 
that  we  recognize  them  so.  The  very  triteness  of  the  incidents 
and  imagery  through  which  they  appeal  to  our  eyes,  "ever 
staring,  wide-propped,  at  marvels,  or  lazily  giouting  on  the 
moon,"  prevents  the  recognition  of  their  import.  But  are 
they  the  less  miraculous,  that  our  own  stultification  will  not 
permit  us  to  see  them  thus  ? 

There  are  times,  though,  when  they  come  to  us  right  solemnly, 
in  sternness,  in  strangeness,  through  chastenings, — Avhen  the 
veil  is  torn  aside,  and  we  are  made  to  look  in  awe  on  holy, 
hidden  things,  to  tremble  and  believe.  In  such  times  our 
stolidity  is  no  refuge ;  "  we  know  that  we  do  see  !" — and  when 
that  time  has  passed,  what  are  the  symbols  and  the  images 
through  which  that  truth  dwells  forever  after  with  the  soul  ? 
The  incidents  through  which  the  Godhead  came,  the  material 
forms  through  which  He  was  made  visible  !  be  they  pigmy  or 
huge  in  man's  esteem,  they  ever,  henceforth,  in  one  certain 
collocation,  must  stand  linked,  the  eternal,  moveless,  silent 
witnessess  of  that  Revelation,  and  of  God,  against  tin  soul. 


346  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

When  we  would  reproduce  for  other  wayfarers  the  lessons 
vouchsafed  to  us,  how,  in  what  better  way  can  it  be  done,  than 
by  dragging  from  under  the  broken  seals  of  the  past,  that 
deep-lined  imagery,  in  the  array  God  stamped  it  on  our  life, 
that  brother  souls  may  regard  it. 

Perhaps  they,  too,  may  see  the  miracle,  and  be  moved  by 
it  as  we  have  been.  Though  a  thousand  eyes  might  look  on  the 
same  facts,  and  sneer  that  you  talk  of  G-od !  yet  there  are 
those  with  the  "gift  and  faculty  divine"  who  know  when  to 
sneer  wisely,  if  they  sneer  at  all !  Such  will  understand  us, 
when  we  aver  that  faith  can  find  "  the  evidence  of  things 
unseen"  only  as  it  is  mated  with  the  actual.  How  can  it  be 
thought  or  expressed  otherwise  ?  This  necessity  for  the  actual, 
is  the  true  old  Pantheistic  element,  though  modern  ethics 
will  be  gravely  horrified  by  the  profane  juxtaposition !  The 
elder  Penates  were  things,  ours  arc  words ;  but  not  the  less 
things  for  all  that,  if  they  be  sacred. 

But  though  this  be  a  "bear  story,"  why  may  it  not  convey 
a  lesson  of  higher  import  and  severer  teaching  than  the  name- 
would  promise  ?  Why  may  it  riot  be  made  to  trace  and 
arrange  the  progress  of  incidents  which  led  to  a  new  birth  of 
the  spiritual  life  within  me  ?  Which  taught  me,  raving  doubter 
that  I  was,  through  the  simplest  and  most  natural  means — 
curiously  enough  presented,  indeed — that  first  and  most  sublime 
of  truths — GOD  IS  !  Which  has  linked  the  "  pathless  desola- 
tion" and  "  the  lowly  instrument"  forever  with  my  memories 
of  adoring  gratitude,  of  love  and  awe,  and  left  them  to  me, 
the  sentient  demonstrations,  strong  as  proof  of  Holy  Writ,  of  a 
benevolent  and  active  Providence — wielding  appreciable  laws 
inscrutably  on  my  behalf !  But  to  return  to  my  narrative. 

A  solitary  and  perilous  journey  brought  me  to  San  Antonio 
do  Bexar,  then  the  extreme  frontier  post  of  Texas.  On  my 
arrival,  I  found  the  company  of  reckless  scamps  who  called 
themselves  Rangers,  and  made  this  old  town  their  head- 


METAPHYSICS    OF   BEAR    IIUXTING.  347 

quarters,  in  a  very  bad  humor — what  would  you  conjecture 
was  the  cause  ?  Simply  that  there  had  been  no  fighting  to 
do  for  a  whole  month ! 

I  had  never  heard  a  spoiled  belle  complain  half  so  patheti- 
cally of  a  decaying  season,  and  the  scarcity  of  victims,  as  did 
these  petulant  amateurs,  of  the  late  difficulties,  in  the  way  of 
raising  a  fight !  They  seemed  to  imagine  the  whole  world 
was  conspiring  against  them — that  a  coalition,  including  not 
Mexicans  and  Indians  only,  but  even  "  His  celestial  highness, 
the  brother  of  the  sun,"  had  been  formed  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  killing  them  off,  through  a  stagnation  of  blood,  super- 
vening upon  the  horrible  monotony  of  an  endless  peace  ! 
Rather  than  die  so  base  a  death,  they  were  just  vowing  to 
rush  into  any  alternative  extreme — sack  some  village  or 
Catholic  Mission  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rio  Grande — or  go 
up  into  the  mountains  and  burn  an  Indian  town,  and  see  if 
that  would  not  stir  the  hornets  and  give  them  something  to  do. 

After  the  deliberation  due  in  so  dire  a  strait,  Hays,  their 
good-natured  little  captain,  too  much  moved,  perhaps,  by  the 
tenderness  of  his  sympathy,  and  a  desire  to  give  them  full 
amends  for  all  they  had  endured,  decided  upon  the  latter  of 
these  alternatives. 

Lither  of  them  was  promising  enough ;  but  he,  as  in  duty 
bound,  of  course  selected  that  around  which  clustered  the 
fullest  fruition  in  perspective!  To  form  some  idea  of  his 
accommodating  temper  and  their  insatiable  gourmandie, 
imagine  a  party  of  eight  white  men  and  two  Mexicans, 
traversing  an  almost  desert  prairie,  three  hundred  miles  in 
width,  with  the  purpose  to  reach  the  mountainous  region  near 
the  sources  of  the  San  Saba  river,  in  which  lay  the  fastnesses 
of  those  formidable  tribes  that  scour  the  plains  of  Mexico 
and  Texas — intending,  when  gained,  to  penetrate  them,  and 
destroy  some  one  of  the  towns  hid  away  in  their  gorges — • 
with,  furthermore,  the  pleasant  prospect  of  having  thousands 
of  infuriated  warriors  howling  on  their  trail  back  to  the  very 


348  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

square  from  which  they  started — that  is,  if,  contrary  to  all 
probabilities,  they  ever  should  reach  it  again.  If  possessed 
of  a  vivid  imagination,  after  grasping  all  that  this  view  pre- 
sents, you  may  form  some  faint  conception  of  what  these 
remarkably  moderate  young  gentlemen  were  contented  to 
consider  sport !" 

For  myself,  being,  as  has  been  perceived  by  this  time,  just  in 
the  mood  for  so  reasonable  and  matter-of-fact  an  undertaking, 
I  was  delighted  at  having  arrived  in  time  to  join  the  party, 
and  nothing  the  less  delighted  at  the  extravagant  gusto  with 
which  the  fellows  seemed  to  relish  the  idea  of  this  highly 
seasoned  joke. 

Captain  Hays  had  thrown  out  a  hint,  as  the  climactric 
attraction  to  any  one  who  might  need  further  incentive  or 
dream  of  hesitating,  that  if  we  had  not  seen  too  many 
Indians  by  the  time  we  reached  the  foot  of  the  San  Saba 
ridge,  we  would  recreate  there  a  day  or  so  in  killing  bears, 
which  animals  were  reported  to  be  wonderfully  abundant, 
and  collecting  wild  honey,  to  be  drunk  with  the  oil ! 

This  last  mellifluous  argument  proved  too  much  for  a  rotund 
and  doughty  little  Doctor — like  myself,  lately  from  the  States 
— who  had  been  slightly  affected  by  some  natural  qualms 
of  prudence;  but  now,  "in  fine  phrensie  rolling,"  his  inner 
visuals  were  all  preoccupied  and  inspired  by  the  scenes  round 
the  camp-fire — himself,  with  sleeves  rolled  up — the  sharp  knife 
in  his  dumpy  red  hand — the  fat  streaks  falling  off  beneath 
his  strokes  upon  the  napkin  of  leaves — the  steam,  "  like  rich 
distilled  perfumes,"  that  rose  as  they  hissed  upon  the  spit 
before  the  cheery  fire.  Then  the  brown  honey  in  stately 
liquid  flow  from  the  tin  cups,  strewed  over  the  tenderly  crisped 
flesh  !  Oh  !  it  was  too  delicious  !  What  cared  he  for  Coman- 
ches  after  that  rapt  vision  !  Yes,  go  ho  would,  though  they 
swarmed  by  thousands  to  turn  him  from  his  bliss  ! 

The  best  of  the  joke,  though,  was,  that  after  this  we  could 
not  get  the  Doctor  anyhow  to  realize  that  there  would  be 


METAPHYSICS    OF   BEAR   HUNTING.  349 

Indians  to  fight.  He  would  not  and  could  not  conceive  tho 
possibility  of  the  tawny  rascals  interposing  "betwixt  the 
wind"  and  that  odorous  revelation.  "  Faugh  !  give  me  an 
ounce  of  civet !"  good  apothecary,  he  would  ejaculate,  with 
the  parenthetic  addition,  "  or  bear-steak  and  honey  would  do 
as  well,"  whenever  the  thing  was  mentioned  by  us.  Remon- 
strate as  we  might,  he  would  see  and  know  of  nothing  else 
ahead  but  these  rare  delicacies ;  nor  could  he  be  induced  to 
make  provision  in  his  equipments  for  any  thing  other  than 
securing  them.  He  had  gotten  hold  of  something  he  called 
a  bear  spear,  which  a  wag  had  quizzed  him  into  believing 
to  be  an  infallible  weapon  in  hunting  that  animal ;  then,  in 
addition,  slinging  a  small  axe  to  his  saddle-bow,  to  be  used 
in  cutting  out  the  honey,  along  with  a  huge  pair  of  holster- 
pistols,  he  declared  himself,  with  great  vivacity,  "  Ready, 
boys !" 

We  tried  to  induce  him  to  throw  away  his  spear  and  take 
a  gun.  "  Never  !  What,  would  you  have  me  unsteady  my 
nerves  by  lugging  a  great  gun  ?  How  shall  I  then  be  able 
to  dissect  with  that  nicety  of  skill  so  indispensable  to  attain- 
ing the  true  flavor  of  a  bear-steak  ?  You  are  surely  demented 
gentlemen !"  and  spurring  his  bob-tailed  and  vicious-looking 
pony  into  a  canter,  he  led  the  way  out  of  the  square.  We 
were  all  soon  clattering  after  him. 

It  requires  precious  little  time,  after  an  expedition  has  been 
determined  upon,  for  a  troop  like  this  to  get  ready  for  it ;  with 
his  rifle,  his  pistols,  his  bowie  knife,  his  tin  cup,  "  water 
gourd,"  buffalo  robe,  lariat,  Mexican  bridle,  saddle  and  spurs, 
the  jolly  Ranger  feels  himself  prepared  to  go  wherever  his 
horse  can  carry  him,  and  to  meet  "  all  imminence  the  gods 
address  their  dangers  in  !"  He  never  troubles  himself  to-day 
about  what  he  shall  eat  or  what  he  shall  wear  to-morrow ; 
for,  so  long  as  his  eye  is  true,  and  his  aim  steady,  his  good 
rifle  will  supply  him  with  meat  for  food,  and  skins  for  clothes ; 
and  what  more  could  any  reasonable  mortal  ask  ? 


350  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

In  truth,  we  were  an  odd-looking  set — each  one  dressed  in 
buckskin,  fashioned  and  trimmed  very  much  to  suit  individual 
taste,  with  no  sort  of  respect  to  uniformity — our  whole  equip- 
ment making  up  a  singular  amalgamation  of  Mexican,  Indian 
and  American  costumes,  while  our  arms  were  of  almost  every 
conceivable  stamp.  The  most  experienced  hunters  carried 
the  old-fashioned  long-barreled  rifle,  single-barreled  pistols, 
and  a  heavy  knife ;  while  those  of  us  just  from  the  States, 
were  loaded  down  with  the  newest  inventions — six-shooting 
revolvers,  double-barrels,  and  all  sorts  of  new-fangled  notions, 
which  we  supposed  were  to  make  us,  individually,  a  host — for 
which  unwarranted  supposition  we  got  ourselves  laughed  at 
most  heartily,  and  were  afterwards  glad  to  have  time  for 
repentance. 

Our  horses,  some  of  them  mustangs,  others  American,  had 
been  carefully  selected  with  reference  to  their  speed  and 
endurance ;  and  all,  with  the  exception  of  the  Doctor's 
nondescript  pony,  were  fine  looking  animals. 

After  clearing  the  narrow  streets  of  the  dilapidated  town, 
and  gaining  the  open  prairie,  which  lay  stretched  like  an 
ocean  before  us,  with  its  long  waves  stilled  upon  the  leap — it 
was  a  glorious  intoxication  to  feel  the  noble  brutes  exulting 
in  their  strength  beneath  us,  as  they  bounded  over  the  undu- 
lations ;  and,  in  one  full  ringing  shout,  our  pent-up  spirits 
greeted  the  mountain  winds  that  came  dashing  their  cool  wel- 
come against  our  faces ! 

Ho  !  for  the  mountains  !  ho  !  away ! 
For  merry  men  are  we ! 

A  short  but  rapid  ride  through  a  lovely  region — whose 
diversified  features  shifted  in  panoramic  changes  every  moment 
as  we  dashed  by — brought  us  to  a  small  stream,  which  was 
to  be  our  camping  place  for  the  night ;  and  here,  we  must 
confess,  that  as  is  invariably  the  case  on  the  first  night  out, 
there  was  a  sort  of  intoxication  rife  round  our  camp-fires  very 


METAPHYSICS    OF   BEAR   HUNTING.  351 

different  from  that  healthy  exhilaration  we  hare  spoken  of. 
Our  "water-gourds"  we  had  discovered  would  hold  "nouya" 
and  "absynthe"  just  as  well,  and  the  time  was  decidedly  at 
a  discount  for  the  evening,  which  was  spent  in  as  gay  and 
reckless  a  carouse  as  ever  chased  the  "lagging  night-shades," 
with  songs  and  laughter  through  the  "  sma'  hours." 

Of  course,  in  such  a  state  of  things,  there  was  no  watch 
set — and  we  all  felt  very  foolish,  on  waking  the  next  morning, 
to  find  some  of  our  hest  horses  gone — among  them  my  own 
gallant  American.  Some  of  the  thieving  Mexicans  of  Bexar, 
having  in  view  the  well-known  custom  of  the  Rangers,  to  com- 
mence all  long  and  perilous  expeditions  with  a  spree,  had 
slunk  and  crawled  upon  our  trail,  since  wo  left  town,  and 
having  ascertained  our  camping  ground,  kept  themselves 
invisible  until  we  were  far  gone  in  the  profound  sleep  which 
followed  our  excesses ;  then  ere  t  near  the  camp,  and  cutting 
the  lariats  of  those  horses  on  the  outside,  rode  them  off ! 

Great  as  our  vexation  was,  a  general  burst  of  laughter  rung 
out  on  all  sides  when  it  was  discovered  that  an  attempt  had 
been  made  to  carry  off  the  Doctor's  pony,  too ;  but  from  the 
indications,  it  was  plain  that  the  vicious  little  rascal  had  been 
too  much  for  the  thief — for  it  had  compelled  that  luckless 
personage  to  leave  his  "  sombrero"  under  its  heels,  and  the 
print  of  his  prostrate  form  was  plain  enough  on  the  damp 
grass. 

Pony  rose  a  hundred  per  cent,  in  the  estimation  of  all 
parties,  forthwith,  and  his  quaint  owner  with  him.  There 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  wait  patiently  until  those  who  had 
horses  should  return,  and  replace  the  stolen  ones  by  pur- 
chases from  the  nearest  "  Cavayard."  As  they  had  nearly 
a  thousand  to  select  from,  we  were  consoled  by  the  hope 
that  we  should  get  at  least  passable  horses. 

The  return  of  our  messengers  late  in  the  evening  was 
awaited  by  myself,  as  well  as  the  other  unfortunates,  with 
groat  anxiety,  for  all  that  could  be  hoped  of  either  pleasure 


3-j2  WILD    SCENES   AXD    WILD   HUNTERS. 

or  security,  on  an  expedition  such  as  this,  depended  very 
much  upon  the  character  and  mettle  of  our  horses.  It  was 
in  vain  to  regret  the  noble  fellow  I  had  lost,  for  he  would  be 
across  the  Rio  Grande  in  the  shortest  possible  time.  I  could 
only  mutter  vengeance  against  Mexican  horse  thieves  in 
general,  and  hope  he  might  be  at, least  tolerably  replaced. 
It  will  be  seen  in  the  event,  that  we  did  not  attach  too  much 
importance  to  this  circumstance. 

When  the  detachment  arrived,  I  was  agreeably  surprised 
to  find  a  powerful,  wild-eyed,  fine-looking  animal  assigned  to 
me ;  but  my  pleasure  was  not  a  little  dashed  at  discover :ng,  as 
soon  as  I  undertook  to  handle  him,  that  he  had  never  had  a 
saddle  on  his  back !  Here  was  a  poser  with  a  vengeance ! 
What  was  I  to  do  with  an  untamed  Mustang,  as  strong  as  a 
buffalo,  and  vicious  as  a  wild  cat?  After  enjoying  a  laugh 
at  my  chap-fallen,  chagrined  look,  on  realizing  this  astounding 
fact,  my  tormentors  suggested  to  me  the  only  alleviation, 
which  was  to  pay  one  of  our  Mexican  guides  a  dollar,  mount 
his  horse,  and  let  him  take  mine  in  hand  for  a  day  or  two,  in 
which  time  he  would  make  him  "  cabdlo  de  buena  rienda" 
for  me. 

In  a  little  while  the  copper-skinned  knave  was  careering 
like  the  wind  over  the  plains  on  my  frantic  steed,  while  the 
mischievous  Rangers  comforted  me  with  the  assurance,  that 
we  would  probably  catch  up  with  him  "iu  a  day  or  two!" 
However,  he  came  into  camp  late  at  night,  with  the  horse 
sweltering  in  foam,  and  nearly  exhausted  by  a  run  of  some 
ten  miles  and  back,  and  assured  me  that  he  was  "  mucy  buena" 
— very  good  ! — that  is,  he  had  been  able  to  stand  this  tremen- 
dous race,  without  falling  dead  in  his  tracks,  which  constituted 
the  Mexican  standard  of  excellence  in  these  cases.  I  was 
eager  to  mount  him  myself  next  morning,  for  I  did  not  fancy 
the  idea  of  having  his  wind  broken,  by  this  Mexican  and 
summary  process  of  taming. 

I  was  approaching  him  incautiously,  without  paying  any 


METAPHYSICS   OF   BEAU  HUNTING.  853 

attention  to  the  guide's  reiterated  "No!  no!  por  Dios!" 
when  he  suddenly  threw  out  his  heels  in  such  devilish  earnest 
that  they  clattered  together  just  above  my  forehead,  and 
reminded  me  that  "prudence  was  the  better  part,"  &c.,  so 
far  as  he  was  concerned,  yet  awhile.  I  turned  off  with  a 
feeling  of  high  indignation  at  this  ungrateful  reception  of 
my  kindly  intentions,  and  consigned  him  over  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  the  Mexican,  with  the  petulant  and  unnecessary 
injunction,  to  "kill  him,  or  ride  that  devil  out  of  him!"  I 
have  some  times  since  thought  that  the  horse  must  have 
understood  this  cruel  speech,  and  to  have  bided  his  time  to 
avenge  himself  right  royally — and  he  did  it,  too,  as  you  will 
presently  see ! 

Our  westward  march  was  now  resumed.  We  soon  recovered 
that  careless  buoyancy  which  had  somewhat  been  checked  by 
the  unpromising  "first  night."  The  scenery  was  glorious, 
the  air  deliciously  fresh  and  bracing,  the  Doctor  and  his 
pony  irresistibly  comic ;  and  the  grouse  was  soon  startled, 
whirring  up  from  its  grassy  couch  by  the  joyous  bursts  of 
tameless  merriment.  That  same  Doctor,  and  his  better  part, 
on  four  legs,  were  enough  to  have  kept  an  army  in  a  roar.  I 
say  better  part,  for  the  pony  was  as  self-opinionated  as  he 
was  cross-grained,  and  scarcely  an  hour  passed  that  he  and 
his  rider  had  not  some  misunderstanding  to  settle,  in  the 
final  adjustment  of  which  "bobtail"  generally  managed  to 
get  the  best  of  it.  On  the  slightest  matter  of  offence  being 
given,  the  irrascible  little  wretch  would  stop  and  bite  at  the 
Doctor's  short  legs ;  when  he,  of  course,  jerking  them  back 
suddenly  to  avoid  snaps,  his  armed  heels  would  prick  the 
pony's  flank,  who  would  spring  forward  with  several  quick 
successive  leaps,  which  would  sadly  discommode  his  rider's 
equilibrium,  and,  not  unfrequently,  would  keep  them  up  Avith 
such  rapidity,  that  the  tight,  round  personalities  of  the 
Doctor,  after  a  flying  ascension  over  his  head,  would  plump 
into  the  grass ;  but  as  that  happened  to  be  very  thick,  and 

23 


354  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

the  ground  very  soft,  nothing  worse  would  come  of  it  than 
a  smart  jolt,  which  the  Doctor  would  aver,  with  the  most 
indomitable  good  humor,  "assisted  his  digestion." 

Pony  never  seemed  to  feel  at  liberty  to  desert  his  friend, 
after  he  had  demonstrated  his  affection  in  this  curious  fashion, 
but  would  stand  perfectly  still,  and  with  a  very  demure, 
repentant  look,  take  the  kick  which  the  Doctor  always 
favored  him  with  before  remounting. 

I  have  laughed  till  my  sides  ached  at  this  quaint  couple. 
The  Doctor  was  the  strangest  compound  of  simplicity  and 
good  humor  that  can  be  conceived. 

The  Rangers  were  most  of  them  gentlemen,  in  breeding  at 
least,  so  that  the  days  of  our  travel  glided  by  delightfully, 
enlivened  with  pleasantries  and  tales  of  curious  adventure, 
to  which  I  was  a  most  untiring  listener.  I  had,  in  the  mean- 
time, received  my  horse  at  the  hands  of  the  Mexican,  and 
was  very  well  pleased  at  his  behavior.  The  character  of  the 
scenery  was  now  entirely  changed.  It  had  been  agreeably 
diversified  before,  but  now  we  had  stretched  around  us  to  the 
horizon,  the  fatiguing  monotony  of  a  dead-level,  sterile  plain, 
covered  with  coarse  thin  grass,  with  only  once  in  fifteen  or 
twenty  miles  a  clump  of  stunted  bushes  to  relieve  the  eye. 
This  continued  for  several  days. 

At  last,  however,  just  as  we  were  beginning  to  be  exces- 
sively bored  by  it,  a  dim  broken  line  looked  in  the  lilac 
distance  before  us  like  a  great  bank  of  clouds.  This,  to  our 
great  relief,  was  announced  to  be  the  San  Saba  Hills. 

"Now,"  said  the  little  Doctor,  who  had  been  looking  some- 
what disconsolate,  but  brightened  up  when  he  heard  this, 
"Now  for  the  bear-steaks  !  And  I  warn  you,  gentlemen,  that 
I  shall  win  the  first  that  arc  eaten,  with  this  same  spear  of 
mine,  which  has  been  the  subject  of  so  much  wit  .among  you 
all !  You  need  not  laugh,  I  shall  confound  you  before  to- 
morrow night." 

And   saying  this,  he   plunged  his  spurs  into  the  sides  of 


METAPHYSICS    OP   BEAK    HUNTING.  355 

bobtail  with  such  unwonted  energy,  that  he,  feeling  himself 
furiously  insulted,  commenced  a  series  of  caperings  even 
more  vivacious  and  complicated  than  usual,  and  persevered 
in  them  with  such  determination,  that,  after  a  hard  struggle, 
the  Doctor  was  fairly  somerseted,  bear-spear  and  all,  amidst 
a  roar  of  merriment.  He  got  nimbly  to  his  legs  again,  dealt 
two  kicks  this  time,  with  a  little  more  vigor  than  usual,  and 
remounted. 

By  night,  we  could  clearly  distinguish  the  different  knobs, 
and  the  shaded  valleys  between  them.  We  camped  in  high 
spirits,  for  no  traces  had  yet  been  discovered  of  Indians,  and 
we  were  near  enough  the  hills  to  reach  them  in  time  for  sport 
in  the  morning. 

Bright  and  early  we  were  under  way — our  arms  all  over- 
hauled and  in  fine  order — with  a  keen  relish  for  the  rough 
work  before  us.  As  we  neared  the  hills,  they  presented 
singular  features.  They  rose  directly  and  abruptly  from  the 
level  of  the  plain  we  had  been  traversing.  It  seemed  to  be 
a  succession  of  ridges,  marched  out  like  an  army  of  Titans 
upon  the  meadows — the  lowest  in  front — rising  higher  and 
higher  as  the  eye  traced  each  line  back  until  it  grew  up  into 
the  clouds ;  and,  from  the  level,  we  could  look  into  the  deep, 
cool,  green  valleys  that  went  winding  among  their  feet. 

Those  in  front  were  by  no  means  precipitous,  but  rose 
from  the  valleys  with  a  gentle  curve,  clothed  all  the  way  to 
the  top  with  mighty  live  oaks,  bearded  like  patriarchs,  whose 
trunks  stood  far  apart  to  give  room  for  their  long  knotty 
arms,  festooned  with  silvery  moss,  to  spread,  over  the  girth, 
not  unfrequently  of  half  an  acre.  As  these  trees  forked 
very  soon,  and  as  there  was  no  underbrush  beneath,  the 
heavy  drapery  of  the  moss  hung  drooping  as  from  a  low- 
roofed  temple  of  the  Druids ;  and  the  thick  green  sward 
spread  under  it,  mellowed  the  gray  shades  deliciously.  The 
trees  became  gradually  smaller  and  more  sparse,  as  the  eye 
descended  to  the  valleys,  and  then  in  the  centre  of  each  was 


356  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

a  strip  of  prairie  of  the  deepest  verdure,  open  to  the  sun, 
which  produced  the  illusion  of  a  gold  and  emerald  flood, 
stilly  creeping  beneath  the  grim  towering  shadows.  A  few 
small  trees  were  scattered  along  the  feet  of  the  ridges  a  short 
distance  out  into  our  prairie.  We  were  all  entranced  into 
gazing  upon  this  marvelous  scene,  which  opened  in  new  traits 
of  surpassing  loveliness  and  grandeur  as  we  approached. 

The  awed  silence  which  had  fallen  round  the  party  was 
broken  by  a  quick,  vehement  exclamation  of  the  Doctor, — 
"Egad !  there  they  are  !  I'm  into  'em,  boys  !"  and  away  he 
dashed,  with  "bobtail"  at  his  best  speed,  and  nourishing  the 
spear  above  his  head ! 

Looking  around  in  astonishment  for  the  cause  of  this 
sudden  outbreak,  I  saw  the  whole  party  bending  forward  in 
the  act  of  letting  out  their  horses,  while  their  eyes  were 
strained  with  a  half  eager,  half  comic  look  after  the  Doctor. 
Following  the  same  direction,  I  could  distinguish,  three  or 
four  hundred  yards  ahead,  several  black,  unwieldy-looking 
objects,  that  seemed  to  be  rooting  in  the  long  grass,  just  at 
the  foot  of  one  of  the  low  Knobs,  and  a  little  distance  out  in 
the  prairie.  One  of  them  raised  its  head  at  the  moment,  and 
I  saw  that  is  was  a  bear !  Hays  exclaimed,  as  he  spurred  his 
horse — "  Boys,  we're  lucky  !  They  come  down  to  feed  on  the 
snails  !"  at  the  same  moment  the  company  broke  off  like 
madmen.  I  followed,  but  having  been  pre-occupied,  and  less 
on  the  alert,  was  soon  among  the  hindmost. 

The  valiant  Doctor  had  between  fifty  and  eighty  rods  the 
start  of  us.  His  fiery  little  pony  carried  him  straight  up  to 
the  nearest  bear,  which  stood  upon  its  hind  feet  stupidly 
snuffing  the  air,  evidently  greatly  puzzled  what  to  make  of 
these  new  visitors !  The  gallant  .ZEsculnpian  dashed  up  to  it, 
and  was  raising  his  spear  to  strike,  before  the  astonished 
animal  had  concluded  to  turn  tail,  which,  when  it  did,  it 
waddled  off  with  great  speed.  But,  as  the  Doctor  drove  away 
manfully  at  its  shaggy  back  with  his  weapon,  in  his  eagerness 


METAPHYSICS    OF   BEAR   HUNTING.  357 

he  had  ridden  so  close  that  pony,  too,  entering  into  the  spirit 
of  the  affair,  was  biting  with  great  vigor  at  its  haunches. 

Such  a  combination  of  assailants  was  too  much  for  Bruin's 
patience,  and  it  wheeled  so  suddenly,  that,  before  pony  could 
dodge,  it  had  given  him  a  wipe  with  his  tremendous  paws 
which  brought  him  to  his  knees.  This  unexpected  stoppage, 
of  course,  sent  the  Doctor  vaulting  over  the  head  of  his  beast. 
His  dumpy  figure  looked  so  natural,  so  much  like  the  old 
trick,  as  it  went  sprawling  through  the  air,  that  one  universal 
yell  of  laughter  broke  impulsively  from  every  throat  in  spite 
of  the  imminent  peril  of  his  predicament ! 

Happily  for  the  Doctor,  the  pony,  as  the  largest  object, 
distracted  the  attention  of  the  bear  from  him  for  an  instant, 
and  gave  him  time  to  regain  his  feet,  and  make  for  a  low  live 
oak  which  stood  near.  Into  this  he  mounted  with  inconceivable 
nimbleness,  but  the  bear  was  close  at  his  heels.  He  ran  out 
upon  a  limb,  but  the  inexorable  monster  still  purued.  lie 
finally  got  out  so  far  as  the  limb  would  sustain  his  weight, 
and  there  he  stood,  swayed  to  and  fro  in  the  air,  holding  on 
with  one  hand  to  the  branches  above  him,  while  with  the  other 
he  was  pushing  away  most  vehemently  at  the  bear's  nose  with 
his  spear,  endeavoring  to  keep  it  at  a  respectful  distance.  This 
arrangement  Bruin  did  not  seem  to  feel  disposed  to  agree  to, 
but  was  cautiously  and  slowly  pushing  his  way  out  on  the 
limb,  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  closer  acquaintance.  To 
complete  the  picture,  pony  was  prancing,  stamping  his  feet, 
looking  up  into  the  tree  and  whining  most  furiously,  as  if 
he  fully  appreciated  his  master's  danger,  and  was  eager  to 
get  up  to  the  rescue. 

The  whole  scene  occupied  but  a  few  seconds.  The  foremost 
of  the  party  seeing  the  Doctor  mount  the  tree,  had  gallopped 
on,  laughing,  in  pursuit  of  the  other  bears ;  while  we  were 
so  much  convulsed  with  merriment,  that  I  verily  believe  the 
creature  might  have  eaten  the  poor  fellow  whole,  before  any 
of  us  would  have  recovered  sufficiently  to  shoot,  but  for  the 


358  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

interposition  of  Hays.  He,  by  a  great  exertion  of  his 
remarkable  self-command,  so  far  recovered  as  to  be  able  to 
send  a  ball  through  its  head,  which  brought  it  to  the  ground. 

There  were  now  four  bears  in  sight,  who  were  making  for 
the  Knobs,  and  seeing  that  the  Doctor  was  safe,  without 
pausing,  we  all  swept  by  in  headlong  career,  to  arrest  these 
fellows  before  they  left  the  plain.  The  last  I  saw  of  the 
Doctor  for  many  a  day,  he  was  dangling  from  the  end  of  that 
live  oak  limb,  in  the  act  of  driving  his  spear  into  the  body 
of  the  wounded  bear,  while  pony,  with  his  ears  laid  back, 
was  kicking  most  vehemently  at  its  writhing  body ! 

The  intensity  of  individual  excitement  was  all  now  given 
to  the  chase.  Our  party  had  broken  up  into  four  groups, 
each  of  which  had  selected  for  pursuit  one  of  the  unwieldy 
brutes,  who  were  getting  over  the  ground  with  astonishing 
speed  in  a  direct  line  for  the  Knobs.  We  pushed  them  so 
hard,  though,  that  instead  of  attempting  to  ascend  the  ridges, 
they  all  diverged  into  some  one  of  the  narrow  valleys  I  have 
spoken  of.  It  happened  that  a  young  Virginian  and  myself 
had  selected  the  same  animal,  and,  before  we  entered  the 
gorge,  up  which  he  ran,  all  the  others  of  the  party  had 
disappeared  into  gorges  of  the  same  character,  which  led 
them  to  the  opposite  sides  of  the  ridges.  I  now  began  to 
notice,  for  the  first  time,  that  there  was  trouble  brewing  with 
my  horse.  He  had  caught  scent  of  the  bear,  and  seemed  to 
be  terribly  alarmed,  snorting  and  bouncing  up  from  the 
ground  with  a  short,  stiff  spring,  that  almost  jerked  me  out  of 
my  scat.  Though  his  natural  action  was  fully  as  great  aa 
that  of  the  Virginian's  horse,  yet  he,  somehow  or  other, 
contrived  not  to  get  over  much  ground,  and  would  not  keep 
up.  His  manoeuvres  made  me  feel  a  little  curious,  though  I 
am,  and  was  then,  a  practical  horseman. 

I  saw  my  companion  closing  upon  the  bear,  which  suddenly 
diverged  from  the  valley,  up  the  hill,  and  lost  sight  of  both 
behind  an  immense  live  oak  hung  to  the  very  ground  with 


METAPHYSICS    OF   BEAR   HUNTING.  359 

In  another  instant  he  had  fired  two  shots  in  quick 
succession.  The  idea  of  losing  my  shot  entirely,  made  me 
desperate,  and  reining  the  horse's  head  with  all  my  strength, 
1  plunged  the  spurs  furiously  into  his  flanks. 

Three  or  four  frantic  bounds,  and  he  had  brushed  through 
the  dense  moss  curtain  under  the  live  oak,  and  came  through 
on  the  other  side,  within  five  paces  of  the  object  of  his  terror, 
the  bear,  the  loins  of  which  had  been  broken  by  the  two 
shots,  and  it  was  swaying  its  huge  carcass  to  and  fro,  and 
gaping  its  great  red  mouth  with  roars. 

Had  my  horse  been  suddenly  turned  to  stone  he  would  not 
have  been  more  rigid  than  he  became  the  instant  his  feet 
touched  the  earth.  There  was  something  positively  awful 
in  the  paralysis  of  fright  which  seized  him.  His  skin  had 
been  perfectly  dry,  and  in  a  second,  big  drops  had  started, 
running  off  to  the  ground.  His  legs  were  set  and  stiff;  his 
nostrils  prodigiously  distended,  but  motionless ;  his  eyes  shot 
out,  and  fixed,  in  the  fascination  of  terror,  upon  the  hideous 
object.  I  was  shocked.  I  drove  my  spurs  into  him  with 
redoubled  strength,  wrenching  at  the  bit  at  the  same  time. 
His  head  felt  like  a  rock,  and  only  a  slight  quiver  of  the 
muscles  answered  the  spur.  I  fairly  yelled  with  rage  as  I 
struck  him  over  the  head  with  my  gun  barrel.  The  blow 
sounded  dull  and  heavy,  but  there  was  no  motion,  not  even  of 
an  ear.  I  never  felt  so  strangely  in  rny  life.  I  was  frightened 
myself. 

At  this  instant,  for  all  had  passed  in  an  instant,  just  as 
the  Virginian  was  leveling  his  pistol  for  a  third  shot,  our 
attention  was  arrested  by  the  quick  succession  of  firing,  like 
a  platoon,  from  the  other  side  of  the  ridge,  followed  up  by 
the  stunning  clamor,  which  has  only  to  be  heard  once  to  be 
remembered  forever,  of  the  Comanche  war-whoop  !  and  then, 
above  us,  the  heavy  tramp  and  rush  of  a  troop  descending  the 
hill  directly  towards  us  !  There  was  no  time  for  deliberation  .' 
"The  Indians!  take  care  of  yourself,  Kentuck!"  hastily 


WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTEKS. 

exclaimed  my  companion,  as  he  wheeled  his  horse  and  dashed 
down  the  hill  for  the  valley.  Gold  comfort  that — "take 
care  of  yourself,"  indeed  ! 

I  made  one  more  desperate  and  unavailing  effort  to  break 
the  trance  of  the  vile  brute  I  strode,  then  sprang  from  his 
back,  ran  under  the  drooping  moss,  stepped  up  into  the  live 
oak,  the  forks  of  which  were  not  over  three  feet  from  the 
ground,  ran  along  up  one  of  its  massive  limbs,  and  had 
barely  time  to  conceal  myself  behind  a  dense  cluster  of  the 
moss,  when,  with  deafening  whooping,  a  bronzed  and  feather- 
bedizened  crew  of  some  twenty  Comanches  swept  into  the 
valley  just  beneath  me.  They  paused  for  an  instant  on 
seeing  my  horse,  who  was  standing  as  I  left  him,  and  one 
of  them  took  the  lariat  from  the  saddle-bow,  but  just  then 
they  caught  sight  of  the  flying  Virginian,  and,  with  a  yell 
that  made  the  very  leaves  shiver,  dashed  on  in  pursuit  of 
him. 

This  broke  the  spell  upon  my  Mustang,  and,  with  a  sudden 
start  and  shrill  neigh,  he  plunged  wildly  through  the  crowd, 
dragging  the  warrior  who  held  the  lariat  from  his  seat,  and 
nearly  unhorsing  two  or  three  others ;  then,  as  if  the  very 
fiends  were  lashing  him  with  red  hot  steel,  he  flew,  rather 
than  ran,  out  of  the  valley  into  the  plains,  neighing  louder 
than  the  savages  howled,  till  he  was  out  of  sight !  In  a  little 
while  they,  too,  had  disappeared ;  a  gun  or  two  followed  at 
momentary  intervals,  and  then  the  echoes  faded  into  pulseless 
and  oppressive  silence,  broken  only  by  the  sobbing  moans 
of  the  wounded  bear  beneath  me. 

I  was  stupefied.  These  events  were  so  strange,  and  had 
followed  each  other  so  rapidly,  that  I  was  dizzy  and  utterly 
confounded.  Was  it  enchanted  land?  Here  was  I,  three 
hundred  miles  beyond  the  remotest  outskirts  of  civilization, 
perched  in  a  tree ;  my  horse  gone ;  friends  scattered  or 
scalped;  this  infernal  silence  weighing  upon  my  lungs.  No! 
There  is  the  dismal  moan  again !  I  must  go  down  and  stop 


METAPHYSICS   OP   BEAR   HUNTING.  361 

that,  or  it'll  run  me  crazy,  sure  enough !  Ha  !  ha !  this  is 
a  funny  joke !  what  a  laugh  I'll  have  with  the  fellows  when 
we  all  get  together  again !  Oh  !  they  have  all  hid  as  I  have 
done,  and  we  will  all  meet  out  there  at  the  mouth  of  the 
gorge  after  awhile  ! 

Pooh !  the  Fates  merely  mean  to  try  my  nerves !  Curse 
that  moaning !  I  must  go  down  and  kill  that  bear.  Pity  to 
kill  him,  too ;  it's  a  sort  of  companionship  !  Doleful  friends 
we'll  be !  Confound  it,  if  it  wouldn't  whine  so  piteously  I 
could  stand  it !  Pshaw !  the  fellows  will  be  here  directly,  and 
what  will  they  say  to  find  I  have  been  so  unmanned  by  a 
little  silence,  that  I  could  not  finish  a  wounded  bear,  when  I 
came  all  this  way  to  hunt  it  ?  So  down  I  went !  The  great 
monster,  I  found,  was  too  far  gone  to  be  savage.  He  merely 
stared  at  me  through  half-closed  eyes,  then  tossed  his  head 
about,  gaped  his  jaws,  and  moaned.  I  went  close  up  to  him. 
I  wanted  him  to  show  fight  and  excite  me.  It  looked  like 
cold-blooded  murder  to  kill  him  so,  and  we  the  only  live 
things  near :  but  he  wouldn't  notice  me. 

His  back  was  broken,  and  he  had  enough  to  occupy  him. 
Wouldn't  it  be  merciful  to  put  him  out  of  pain  ?  Yes !  but 
who's  going  to  be  merciful  to  me  when  I'm  starving,  after 
my  ammunition  gives  out !  I  felt  jealous  of  the  bear's  good 
luck,  in  having  me  there  with  a  large  knife  to  kill  him  at 


once 


All  my  logic  wouldn't  do.  Sophise  as  I  might,  the  awful 
conviction  was  settling  about  my  brain  that  the  party  had 
been  hopelessly  scattered,  and  that  I  was  left  alone,  with 
no  experience  to  guide  me  back,  and  no  hope  of  getting 
back  on  foot  if  I  had  possessed  experience.  But  it  wouldn't 
do  to  let  this  feeling  gain  the  ascendant.  I  must  have 
something  to  employ  me.  They  might  come  yet. 

So,  I  deliberately  split  the  bear's  skull  open  with  my 
bowie-knife,  and  went  to  work  very  formally  to  dissect  him. 
I  managed  to  protract  this  operation  to  such  a  length,  that, 


3G2  WILD  SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

when  I  looked  up,  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  the  sun  was 
Betting.  But  I  had  no  longer  to  complain  of  the  stillness. 
This  was  the  signal  for  the  voices  of  the  wilderness  to  break 
forth. 

A  long,  screeching  cry,  that  seemed  right  at  my  ear,  made 
my  blood  curdle.  I  looked  around.  The  limbs  of  a  live  oak, 
near,  were  rustling  and  swaying,  as  under  some  great  weight. 
The  head  of  a  panther  peered  out  from  between  two  bunches 
of  moss.  "We  looked  at  each  other  very  coolly.  He  stretched 
his  white  throat  from  the  covert,  turned  up  his  nose  and 
snuffed  towards  me.  He  smelt  the  blood.  His  eyes  were 
very  large  and  gleaming,  but  he  looked  innocent  enough ; 
his  face  seemed  so  good-natured  and  familiar,  that  I  felt  for 
the  moment  we  must  be  old  acquaintances,  that  I  ought  to 
offer  to  take  his  paw.  There's  no  harm  in  him ! 

lie  stretched  his  jaws  to  scream  again,  and  I  saw  his 
long,  white  fangs  :  the  cat  tribe  are  well  furnished  about  the 
jaws.  But,  horror  !  his  cry  has  a  dozen  echoes  all  around, 
far  away  and  near.  What  a  caterwauling  !  God  of  heaven  ! 
it  is  said  they  like  man's  meat  the  best !  Oh !  but  these  are 
simple  boors,  uncontaminatcd  by  luxurious  tastes.  They 
won't  know  any  better,  unless  they  have  heard  the  tradition. 
But,  then,  it  is  something  of  a  risk  if  they  haven't.  What 
shall  I  do  ?  Shoot  that  meek-looking  panther  in  the  eyes  ? 
Bead  panthers  tell  no  talcs  ! 

No,  the  Indians  will  hear  the  gun,  and  I  shall  have  them 
swarming  through  the  ridges,  to-morrow,  sky-larking.  That 
won't  do.  What  then  ?  Why,  I'll  climb  to  the  top  of  this 
live  oak,  so  that  these  nimble  gentry  can't  get  above  ine, 
unless  they  jump  out  of  the  moon ;  and  I'll  tic  myself  up 
there,  and  swing  about  'till  morning.  So  long  as  I'm  above 
'em,  I'm  safe,  for  I  can  see  their  eyes  as  they  come  up,  and 
rake  down  the  limb. 

This  conclusion  was  forthwith  acted  apon.  I  didn't  like 
that  panther  to  stand  there  watching  me,  though,  for  he 


METAPHYSICS    OF   BEAR   HUNTING/  363 

would  be  sure  to  tell,  and  I  should  be  besieged  all  niglit; 
so  I  picked  up  some  round  pebbles  that  were  strewed  along 
the  hill  side,  and  took  deliberate  aim  at  his  broad,  innocent 
face.  The  first  one  cut  the  moss,  just  above  his  head. 
He  looked  up,  with  a  quick  movement,  and  low  growl, 
evidently  wondering  prodigiously  where  it  came  from.  He 
had  no  suspicion  of  me  at  all,  and  looked  down  again  very 
friendly,  and  very  inquisitive. 

I  tried  it  again.  This  time  I  struck  the  limb  near  him, 
and  the  stroke  rang  sharply.  He  clapped  his  paw  over  the 
place,  clawed  it  and  smelt.  The  simple  fellow  didn't  look 
at  me,  at  all.  I  felt  almost  ashamed  to  be  imposing  upon 
him  so.  But  while  he  was  thus  engaged,  I  sett  another, 
this  whistled  past  him  on  the  other  side.  He  wheeled  and 
clawed  at  the  sound.  At  last  I  struck  him,  plumb !  Ho 
saw  the  pebble  fall,  and  go  rolling  down  the  hill,  and  with 
a  savage  growl  leaped  out  of  the  tree  after  it,  and  went 
chasing  it  down  into  the  valley.  It  was  clear  he  tl?  ought 
the  place  bewitched;  for  he  didn't  come  back  again  until 
it  had  grown  quite  dark,  if  he  came  even  them ! 

I  took  some  of  the  choicer  pieces  of  the  bear  and  hung 
them  to  a  swinging  limb,  where  they  would  be  out  of  reach, 
and  then  ascended  the  live  oak.  I  climbed  and  climbed 
until  I  got  so  high,  that,  by  standing  straight,  I  could  look 
out  above  the  top,  and  see  the  stars  twinkling  in  a  very 
sleery  sort  of  fashion,  as  if  they  had  been  called  up  too 
early,  and  had  not  decided  whether  they  should  wake  at  all, 
yet  a  while. 

The  moon  was  just  wheeling  up  her  chaste  disc  from 
behind  the  mountains.  They  all  looked  too  much  like  old 
times  to  be  pleasant  just  then ;  so  I  dodged  my  head  beneath 
the  shade  of  the  moss  again,  and  made  my  arrangements 
with  the  most  accommodating  forks  for  the  night.  That 
settled,  I  went  to  sleep  counting  the  answers  to  the  nearest 
panther's  cry,  guessing  how  many  there  were  to  the  acre ; 


364  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

or  conjecturing  whether  wolves  learned  to  howl  by  gamut, 
and  how  many  quavers  made  their  endless  bars,  or  wondering 
wJ.-ther  "rattle!  rattle!  snap!  snap!"  was  considered  a 
l--.£>kimate  chorus  to  "tu  whit!  tu  whoo  !"  by  the  San  Saba 
owls. 

I  got  tired  conjecturing  about  the  owls,  for  they  seemed 
to  have  taken  that  matter  in  hand  with  regard  to  me,  and 
came  napping  and  hooting  about  the  tree  tops,  and-,  shining 
their  great  eyes  curiously  at  me,  as  they  went  by,  till  I 
almost  foamed  with  spite,  because  I  couldn't  punch  them 
out.  The  moon  got  up  over  head  at  last,  and  that  narrow 
little  valley,  which  looked  so  pretty  in  the  morning  sunshine, 
now  lay  along  the  deep  bosom  of  the  shadow,  in  the  light, 
braiding  them  like  a  silver  ribbon.  Those  graceful  little 
creatures  stepping  across  it,  one,  two,  three,  they  are  ocelots, 
spotted  like  a  pard.  What  a  carouse  is  going  on  down  there 
over  that  bear's  carcass.  The  brutes  are  about  to  hold  a 
carnival  here  to-night,  in  celebration  of  my  release  from  the 
thraldom  and  restraints  of  civilization.  Confound  'em,  if 
they  hadn't  such  rakish  ways  about  them,  I  would  come 
down  and  do  the  "  honors"  for  them  genteelly,  as  a  civil 
host  should !  Can't  trust  'em,  though !  How  their  eyes  do 
sparkle  and  flash  green  flames,  as  they  spit  and  claw  at  each 
other  over  the  bones.  The  panther  rules  the  roost  down 
there.  I  wonder  if  the  puma  is  going  to  come. 

I  wish  he  would.  There'll  be  rare  scintillating  fire-works 
from  their  eyes  should  they  get  to  battling.  I  suppose  I 
should  see  all  the  cat  family  by  the  light,  sitting  on  their 
haunchoa  around,  connoisscuring.  That  would  be  funny,  for 
they  are  a  sober,  demure-looking  generation.  Look  at  that 
pack  of  wolves  sitting  off  there  in  the  moonlight.  How  they 
fidget,  and  whine,  and  lick  their  chops.  They  dare  not  come 
nearer  !  Good  for  them,  the  sneaking  grave-robbers  !  Those 
panthers  are  gleaming  their  eyes  up  this  way.  Have  they 
scented  ?  Can  it  be  they  suspect  ?  There  go  the  gleams 


METAPHYSICS   OF  BEAR   HUNTING.  365 

shooting  up.  What  can  it  mean  ?  Ha !  the  greedy  rogue  ! 
He  is  jumping  up  at  the  tit-bits,  that  I  hung  on  a  limb. 
He's  welcome  to  them  if  he  can  get  them — if  that'll  satisfy 
him  so  far  that  he  wont  attempt  to  make  tit-bits  out  of  me. 

Ha !  ha !  strange  that  that  quaint  song  about  the  fairies 
should  be  buzzing  through  my  brain  now: — 

"From  the  silver  tops  of  the  moon- touched  trees, 

Where  they  swing  in  their  cobweb  hammocks  high, 
And  rocked  about  in  the  evening  breeze " 

I'd  make  a  good-sized  courtier  for  Queen  Mab's 

"  Hall  of  state  in  the  lilly's  cup." 

I  wonder  how  the  "  wee  people"  would  fancy  buckskins. 
I'm  "rocked  about  in  the  evening  breeze"  with  a  vengeance. 
I  wish  I  had  "  cobwebs,"  or  something  stouter  in  proportion, 
to  lash  my  "hammock"  a  little  more  securely — 

"  Ye  Gods  !— 

From  fairies  and  tempters  of  the  night 
Guard  me !"    ' 

Rather  heathenish  rendering  that  of — 

"  And  now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep,"  &c. 

I  fear  I  am  no  better  than  a  heathen,  anyhow !  But  bless 
us,  they  say  a  fairy  is 

"  Something  betwixt  heaven  and  hell, 
Something  that  neither  stood  nor  fell — 
Something  that  through  thy  wit  or  will, 
May  work  thee  good,  may  work  thee  ill." 

i.  e.  it  is  a  "betweenity !"  But  hush!  they  are  "pesky 
folk,"  and  won't  stand  being  spoken  of  disrespectfully.  They 
"may  work  thee  ill,"  I  am  ill  enough  off  already ! 

Curious  notions  to  get  into  a  body's  head  !     I  wonder  if 


WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

there  should  be  any  angels,  whether  my  predicament  does 
not  remind  them  something  of  the  young  Hehrew  they  saw 
in  the  lion's  den,  three  thousand  cycles  ago — except  that  I 
am  a  trifle  higher  up  than  he  was.  But  lions  didn't  climb 
then.  I  believe  they  haven't  learned  yet  so  well  as  panthers 
— cases  mightily  alike,  anyhow !  The  angels  pitied  him,  for 
they  are  said  to  be  very  compassionate ;  and  maybe  they'd 
pity  me,  too,  if  I  were  not  such  an  unmitigated  sinner,  and 
didn't  feel  ashamed  to  ask  their  pity.  I  have  no  hope  in 
that  direction,  for  I  never  believed  in  them  ;  though  it  would 
be  a  comfort  now.  I  have  sneered  like  a  devil  about  their 
"harping  on  their  harps,"  when  they  had  never  done  me  any 
harm — and  I  didn't  want  their  help — even  if  I  was  to  be 
overtaken  with  a  belief  in  them  now — I  don't  fancy  such 
times  as  this  for  repentance  and  begging — don't  think  they 
would  either. 

Roar  away  down  there — that's  right !  Saturnalia  of  the 
grizzly  fiends  !  That's  the  music  for  the  brave  Sceptic  !  His 
religion  is  to  hate  and  to  defy !  Pooh  !  I'm  getting  a  little 
cracked,  I  believe,  and  sleepy,  too.  Ticklish  place  this,  to 
dream,  unless  it  is  of  hugging  !  Wonder  what  effect  Mrs. 
Mab's  chariot  wheels,  driven  athwart  one's  nose,  would  have 
upon  dreams  up  here  ?  Warrant  her  "  time  out  of  mind  coach 
makers,"  "joiner  squirrel  and  old  grub,"  are  plenty  enough 
out  this  way.  Ila  !  ha  !  to  think  of  her  "  team  of  atomics" 
galloping  across  the  panther's  snout. 

Plague  this  unruly  member  !  I  can't  keep  it  from  prating 
about  God  !  I'd  like  to  know  how  high  the  Doctor  roosts 
to-night  ?  I'm  afraid  that  it  is  in  Abraham's  bosom  !  I 
wonder  if  he  has  pony  with  him?  Pity  he  couldn't  have 
had  a  bear-steak,  with  honey,  before  he  went ;  I  think  he'd 
have  gone  without  a  murmur  then.  But  they  say  xhat 
milk  and  honey  flow  through  the  streets  up  there — no 
account  of  bears  though.  Sleep!  "balmy  sleep!  tired 


METAPHYSICS   OF  BEAR  HUNTING.  367 

nature's  sweet — "  Sleep,  indeed !  I  fear  I  shall  never  go 
to  sleep  again.  I  find  I  shall  have  to  take  care  of  myself. 
and  see  fair  play.  Things  are  almost  getting  serious. 

Just  to  think  how  long  that  panther's  teeth  were  !  He 
keeps  them  very  white,  considering  ! 

I  wonder  if  its  daylight  up  in  old  Kentuck  now,  and  what 
they  are  all  doing.  That  good  old  man  is  trimming  grape 
vines.  lie  has  prayed  for  me  this  morning.  He  can  pray ! 
And  the  girls, — weeding  flowers,  I  warrant.  And  Willie, 
that  glorious  boy,  with  the  seraph  struggling  through  hig 
great  eyes, — pranking  !  pranking  !  like  an  elf.  That's  a 
catamount  mewing  ;  how  soft  his  voice  is — butter  wouldn't 
melt  in  his  mouth.  Confound  this  drowsy  fit — I  had  like  to 
have  fallen.  This  nodding  "  'twixt  earth  and  sky"  is  rather 
more  serious  than,  in  my  college  days,  I  considered  Homeric 
nods  to  be. 

At  it  again  down  there  !  "  Celestial  Syren's  harmonies  !" 
you  are  discord  to  it !  Howling,  growling,  snarling,  yelling, 
spitting,  snapping — whew  !  how  the  bones  crack — sweet- 
tempered  family  these  Felines !  They  are  giving  each  other 
farewell  salutes  and  embraces — affectionate  creatures  ! 

But,  thank  Fate !  it  is  the  order  of  nature  that  day  must 
come,  though  it  docs  seem  to  be  a  hundred  years.  And  it 
has  come  at  last.  The  wassailers  of  the  night,  striped, 
dotted,  frecked,  spotted,  one  and  all,  shrink  away  with 
mean,  guilty  looks,  while 

"  The  morn,  in  russet  mantle  clad, 
Walks  o'er  the  dew  of  yon  high  eastern  hill." 

Those  surly  panthers,  though,  unwilling  to  go,  stop  in  full 
view  under  an  oak,  to  lick  their  paws,  and  are  looking  back 
wistfully  as  if  they  would  have  thanked  daylight  to  tarry  yet 
awhile.  But  it  will  not  do,  you  are  not  Joshuas,  and  the  sun 
can't  stand  still  for  your  convenience.  Good-by  !  When  you 


808  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

revisit  the  glimpses  of  the  moon,  "making  night  hideous," 
I  am  sorry  to  say  I  shan't  be  here !  "  Such  sweet  com- 
pulsion doth  in  music  lie,"  I  shall  bo  compelled  to  travel 
away  from  yours  !  Well,  as  the  coast  is  clear,  I'll  go  down  ! 

A  pretty  muss  they've  made  of  it  down  here.  Fur,  and 
blood,  and  bones !  That  salient  thief  did  get  my  tit-bits, 
sure  enough.  Well,  it  is  said  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
starving  possible  !  I  suppose  I  am  beginning  to  feel  some- 
thing like  the  premonitories.  I  have  tasted  nothing  since 
daylight  yesterday  morning ;  but  they  say  an  empty  stomach, 
for  long  wind,  and  I  am  likely  to  need  all  the  wind  I  can 
raise  before  I  get  across  this  prairie.  Some  of  the  boys 
will  be  in  sight  though,  by  the  time  I  reach  the  mouth  of 
the  gorge.  It  can't  be  that  they  are  all  scalped,  and  they 
must  know  that  I  am  here.  Oh,  yes,  I  shall  see  them,  and 
what  a  laugh  we'll  have  comparing  roosts. 

I  set  off  down  the  valley,  reached  the  prairie,  strained  my 
eye  over  the  desolate  expanse,  and  not  a  living  thing  was  to 
be  seen.  I  went  to  the  tree  where  I  left  the  Doctor  dangling ; 
the  wolves  had  stripped  the  bones  of  the  bear,  and  were  still 
lingering  around  them.  That  immortal  spear  was  sticking 
between  the  ribs,  where  he  had  driven  it,  no  doubt,  with 
splenetic  vigor.  I  looked  around  for  some  trace  of  his 
bones,  but  none  were  to  be  seen. 

Great  God,  it  can't  be  they  are  not  coming !  Foolish 
expletive  !  when  one  neither  believes  in  the  greatness  or 
the  Godship.  Instinct  of  education !  Bali !  one  needs 
something  more  get-at-able  and  substantial  than  instincts 
and  old  wives'  tales  at  such  times  as  this ! 

I  climbed  the  tree  to  the  top-most  bough,  and  strained 
my  eyes  till  they  ached  again.  Wide  and  terrible  solitude ; 
not  an  insect  chirped,  not  a  leaf  stirred.  The  pulses  of  my 
heart  sounded  like  the  throes  of  a  mountain ;  I  be^an  to 

'  O 

imagine   it  the   centre   of  all   vitality — the  only  thing  that 


METAPHYSICS    OF   BEAR   HUNTING*,  369 

throbbed  and  felt  beneath  the  sun ;  and  that  His  great  fire 
burnt  alone  for  me.  Pity  that  one  couldn't  live  on  beams, 
as  they  say  the  poets  do. 

I  wish  I  was  a  poet !  If  things  have  been  here,  just  as 
they  look  now,  since  the  Flood,  I  wonder  if  the  grass,  and 
trees,  and  sun,  have  not  become  tired  of  each  other's  faces, 
everlastingly  by  the  same.  It  must  be  quite  a  relief  to  them 
to  have  me  here. 

Who — what  hears  me  when  I  talk  ?  The  earth,  these 
stolid  hills,  or  the  solemn  oaks,  or  the  bowed  grass  ?  They 
all  have  "airy  tongues,"  and  mysterious  whisperings  have 
been  heard  between  them.  It  is  evident  if  they  talk  they 
must  hear,  and  if  they  hear,  they  surely  must  pity  me. 
Pity !  I  must  be  whining  of  pity !  What  have  I  to  do 
with  it  ?  Have  I  been  pitiful  to  friend  or  foe  ?  Have  I 
not  swelled,  till  I  was  nigh  to  burst  with  ravings  of  defiance 
to  the  heavens  above  and  the  earth  beneath,  of  the  proud 
mastery  of  my  own  will  ?  Where  is  it  now  ?  Cowed  by 
silence  !  Egad  !  I  did  not  know,  that  as  he  lay  in  his 
"old  couch  of  space  and  airy  cradle,"  this  "silence"  was 
so  awful !  I  wish  I  had  Atlas'  shoulders — that  old  couch 
and  airy  cradle  are  terribly  heavy  as  they  lean  upon  me  ! 

What  is  this  silence  and  this  awe  ?  Oh,  is  it  God's  presence  ? 
Is  this  the  way  he  looks  and  comes — with  a  fearful  calm 
upon  him!  Is  there  a  God  out  here  in  these  tremendous 
wilds  ?  I  cannot  see  Him — unless  this  vast  stagnation,  this 
breathless,  bare  infinitude  of  waste,  this  huge,  levelled  corse 
be  He !  I  cannot  feel  Him,  unless  it  is  He,  striving  to  crush 
my  life  out  with  this  hideous  weight  of  stillness  !  Hah  !  Ho 
is  not,  or  He  is  a  God  who  loves  to  torture.  They  will  not 
come.  I  have  been  set  apart  for  an  awful  death,  that  His 
dread  hate  may  gloat  upon  my  agonies,  because  I  have  defied 
Him. 

It  shall  not  be.  I  will  not  starve,  I  fairly  screamed ;  life 
is  strong  in  me,  and  where  the  wolf  lives,  I  can  live.  I'll 


370  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

be  subtler  than  the  serpent.  My  scent  shall  be  keener  than 
the  sleuth-hound's,  my  sight  than  the  vulture's.  I'll  run 
swifter  than  the  deer.  I  will  wrestle  hand  to  claw  with  the 
prairie  wolf,  that  I  may  tear  out  his  heart  to  eat — but  I  will 
baulk  that  imperious  Malignity.  Die  by  inches?  Not  I.  I'll 
set  the  prairie  on  fire  to  beacon  the  Comanches,  and  dare 
them  to  battle  for  my  scalp,  or  give  me  food. 

And  so  the  infidel  fiend  within  me  mouthed  its  impotent 
ravings,  in  the  face  of  Heaven's  Majesty,  until  I  almost 
fainted  with  exhaustion. 

I  slid  out  of  the  tree,  and  threw  myself  upon  the  grass. 
Long  I  lay  there,  half  stupefied ;  my  blood  raging  and  brain 
whirling  with  fearful  images.  A  solitary  raven  "tolled  in 
his  hollow  beak,"  and  aroused  me.  I  knew  it  was  one  of  the 
"ill  birds,"  though  I  had  never  seen  or  heard  one  before.  I 
looked  up.  It  sat  upon  the  oak  just  over  me,  and  the  limbs 
were  swaying  with  its  weight.  It  "tolled"  that  "sick  man's 
requiem"  again,  then  turned  its  head  aside  and  stared,  with 
"grave  inquisition*'  in  its  black,  glittering  eyes,  down  upon 
me.  You've  come  too  soon,  you  ebony  wizard!  Not  dead 
yet,  I  thank  you !  and  I  stared  at  its  carnal  glance.  Its 
gray,  scaly  legs  had  stains  upon  them — "uairs  were  clotted 
on  its  claws,  and  the  fellow  had  not  even  wiped  his  sharp, 
wedge-like  beak  clean. 

Think  how  slovenly,  when  he  came  to  offer  the  services  of 
the  instrument  to  pick  my  eyes  out !  What  wonder  I  felt 
indignant,  and  the  life  began  to  wake  up  in  me  again.  I 
did  not  want  him  go !  It  was  a  ghastly  companionship,  but 
then  I  had  always  felt  strangely  curious  about  them,  for 
they  are  wonderful  creatures.  They  live  where  nothing  else 
can  be  seen  to  live  —  out  in  the  trackless  desert  —  vast 
wildernesses  of  desolation — where  even  the  clouds  have  fled 
away,  and  there  is  nothing  but  the  sky  and  sun  above,  and 
sands  and  rocks  beneath ;  the  winnow  of  their  black  wings 
Ktirs  the  dead  air,  and  their  harsh,  sepulchral  croak,  startles 


METAPHYSICS   OF   BEAR   HUNTING.  371 

the  torpid  echoes  from  a  sleep  of  ages.  "  He  that  feedeth 
the  young  ravens !"  I  felt  now  the  striking  sublimity  of 
that  figure. 

Dark-plumed  spirit  of  the  desolation,  in  what  grim  wild 
hast  thou  thy  home  ?  Thou  hast  snuffed  the  slaughter  from 
afar,  and  been  coursing  with  death  around  the  world.  Yet 
there  are  wide  throats  gaping  with  ravin  in  that  foul  nest 
of  thine.  How  dost  thou  live,  and  how  art  they  fed,  while 
thou  art  crossing  continents,  the  mate  of  famine  ?  Waugh ! 
waugh !  woo-a-ugh  !  he  "  tolled"  again,  and  spread  his  black 
wings  and  flapped  indignantly  away !  The  omen  of  his  coming 
is  not  ill  to  me ;  where  he  goes  there  must  be  something  to 
live  upon. 

It  is  no  miracle  that  gives  refreshing  to  these  tireless 
wings.  Ha !  I  have  it.  The  snails !  Hays  said  the  bears 
came  down  to  feed  upon  them.  I  rose,  with  new  hope, 
examined  the  ground  about  me,  and,  to  my  great  joy  found., 
scattered  here  and  there  over  the  surface,  quite  a  number 
of  snails,  some  of  them  as  large  as  my  thumb.  Ah  !  ha !  I 
said,  I  should  not  starve !  and  a  gleam  of  exultant  triumph 
shot  through  my  inmost  soul. 

Defeated !  defeated !  I  shouted,  as  I  impiously  shook  my 
clenched,  paltry  hand  toward  the  fathomless  wide  heavens ; 
I  shall  neither  die  of  starvation,  nor,  unless  I  will  it,  at  the 
hands  of  the  Indians.  There  is  game  in  the  hills  to  be  had 
for  the  shooting,  but  I  do  not  choose  to  turn  "  root-digger," 
as  I  should  have  to  do  when  my  ammunition  gives  out.  1 
burrow  with  my  claws  for  the  gratification  of  no  one.  The 
first  shot  would  bring  the  Comanches  upon  me,  and  I  am 
not  ready  for  them  yet !  I  shall  go  back  among  men,  and  show 
the  cowards  how  much  a  haughty  purpose  can  accomplish. 
With  nothing  to  creep  behind,  deer  could  not  be  approached 
»n  the  dead  level  of  the  plain  before  me. 

These  snails,  that  ghostly-eyed,  jolly  old  croaker  hag 
helped  me  to,  will  last  so  long  as  the  sterility  and  the  sand 


372  WILD   SCENES  AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

continue.  What  a  fool  I  was  to  have  lain  there  mumbling 
like  a  toothless  crone,  who  pleads  with  death  for  one  hour 
more  of  palsied  life,  when  my  veins  are  full  of  life.  I  am 
strong,  and  there  is  enough  to  eat  scattered  over  the  earth - 
A  child  could  hardly  ask  for  more  !  I  soon  collected  enough 
to  make  a  meal.  Oh,  ye  epicures,  tell  me  not  of  your 
crustaceous  delicacies,  out  of  the  deep  sea.  Snails — snails 
that  grow  upon  the  sands  for  me ;  though  they  are  rather 
light  food  for  a  walk  of  three  hundred  miles,  it  must  be 
confessed. 

Being  refreshed  in  my  inner  man,  I  looked  at  matters 
very  coolly.  The  plain  must  be  crossed;  it  lay  between  me 
and  life;  and  the  sooner  the  attempt  was  made  the  better. 
So  I  girded  up  my  loins  and  started  towards  the  sunrise. 
All  that  I  knew  about  the  course  was,  that  we  came  west, 
and  therefore  east  must  be  the  direction  back. 

There  were  no  objects  to  assist  me  in  keeping  the  right 
line.  I  must  walk  with  my  shadow  behind  me  in  the  morning, 
and  before  mo  in  the  evening,  looking  steadily  at  the  horizon, 
my  gaze  fixed  upon  some  slight  feature,  a  wave  or  curve  of 
its  contour  just  under  the  sun.  All  day  long  I  walked  with 
my  eyes  fixed  on  something,  which  turned  out  to  be  nothing 
that  could  be  distinguished  from  the  vast  level  plain  around 
when  I  reached  it.  Yet,  I  felt  that  I  had  kept  the  line, 
and  that  was  a  great  deal.  I  had  always  to  stop  before  it 
grew  dark,  to  look  for  snails  and  water.  For  a  day  or 
two  the  snails  were  abundant,  and  I  came  to  water  at  least 
once  a  day,  but  then  they  both  began  to  grow  scarce.  The 
gnawings  and  parchings  of  hunger  and  thirst  commenced 
at  the  same  time.  I  could  no  longer  keep  my  course  steadily, 
for  my  eyes  must  be  employed  all  the  while  in  looking  for 
food  and  water.  A  herd  of  Mustangs  would  go  by  now  and 
then,  stop  a  moment  to  shake  their  silky  manes,  snort  and 
stare  in  startled  wonder,  and  then  sweep  on  before  I  could 
approach  within  gun  shot.  The  deer  would  rise  lazily  from 


METAPHYSICS   OF  BEAR   HUNTING.  373 

their  couches  of  "knot-grass,  dew  be-sprent,"  prick  their 
ears,  toss  their  slight  heads,  whistle  and  bound  away.  The 
awkward  cranes  would  stalk  to  and  fro,  gesticulate  with 
their  long  necks,  and  croak;  then  stop,  spread  their  broad 
wings,  and  go  with  their  long  shanks  dangling  behind  them. 
But  I  could  never  kill  them ;  for,  though  hunger  made  me 
reckless  at  last,  and  I  could  fire,  I  would  hear  the  shot 
rattle  smong  their  thick  feathers:  but  it  availed  nothing. 
They  still  sailed  croaking  off. 

These  were  the  only  living  things,  except  "horned  frogs," 
that  I  saw ;  and  while  my  strength  held  out,  I  would  chase 
the  last,  nimble,  ugly  little  creatures,  with  an  eagerness 
inconceivable.  Yes,  there  were  wolves,  too;  but  they  are 
minions  of  the  devil,  not  honest,  living  things.  Some  of 
them  were  on  my  trail  all  the  time,  determined  to  be  in  at 
the  death.  Oh,  how  fiercely  I  hated  them.  I  tried  all 
manner  of  devices  to  lure  them  within  gun-shot,  but  it  was 
of  no  avail.  They  were  too  subtle.  The  hairy  ghouls ! 
they  have  the  "second  sight."  They  can  see  death  before 
he  strikes,  and  they  will  slink  and  creep  with  horrid  patience 
in  his  wake,  for  one  lap  of  blood.  It  would  make  me  shiver 
to  turn  and  see  them,  like  my  shadow,  forever  trailing  me. 
And  then  at  night  they  would  sit  around  and  howl  and  moan 
for  hours  and  hours,  as  if  they  were  determined  I  should  learn 
my  own  requiem  by  heart ! 

Snails  and  water  were  becoming  yet  more  difficult  to  obtain, 
and  I  weaker  and  weaker  every  hour.  Still  I  travelled  on; 
though  my  gait  was  staggering.  I  had  drawn  my  hunger- 
belt,  until  I  looked  like  a  wasp.  My  senses  became  painfully 
acute.  The  clang  of  a  crane's  wing,  or  his  croak  as  he  rose, 
would  thump  and  crash  against  my  tympanum  like  thunder, 
and  roar  through  my  brain  in  reverberations  for  minutes 
after.  The  earth's  smell  became  rank  and  oppressive ;  and 
when  the  breeze  swept  by,  it  sounded  like  the  whirring  of 


374  WILD  SCENES  AND   "WILD   HUNTERS. 

ten  thousand  wings.  I  began  to  see  strange  sights  on  the 
prairie.  Armies  with  banners  would  hurtle  by,  and  their 
tread  would  shake  the  earth.  It  would  turn  out  to  be  a 
flying  troop  of  mustangs.  Great  lakes  of  water  would 
glimmer  in  the  sun  before  me,  and  when  I  would  reel  along 
a  little  faster  to  reach  them,  they  would  still  travel  on,  and 
I  could  not  lessen  the  distance  between  them  and  me. 

I  was  too  weak  to  curse,  but  I  thought  of  heaven-doomed 
Tantalus  !  The  star-beams  hurt  me  with  their  icy  keenness, 
and  the  moon's  light  made  my  teeth  chatter ;  mist  forms  of 
those  I  loved  would  sail  along  the  air,  solemnly  and  slow, 
their  still  eyes  fixed  on  me.  The  wail  of  the  accursed  wolves 
would  sound  like  the  clamoring  volume  of  agonies  rolled  up 
from  a  teeming  bell-pick,  or  the  moaning  of  a  northern  ocean 
through  cavernous  icebergs.  The  blood  tingled  sharply  and 
stung  along  my  veins ;  while  my  stomach  was  cold  as  if  it 
were  dead.  I  felt  as  if  I  were  cut  in  two,  and  my  head  and 
feet  acting  from  different  volitions.  At  night,  I  would  lie 
with  my  mouth  open  and  tongue  out,  gasping  for  the  dew.  I 
would  eat  the  grass  like  a  beast,  before  the  sun  had  dried  it. 

Yet  I  travelled  on,  for  while  I  was  in  motion,  I  felt  the 
horrors  less ;  and  sometimes  my  body  seemed  to  drink  in 
unnatural  vigor  from  the  atmosphere,  giving  me  ecstatic 
visions.  The  most  delicious  moments  of  my  life  would 
crowd  upon  me,  bringing  all  familiar  faces,  wearing  the 
expression  I  loved  best  to  remember  them  by.  But  they 
were  spiritualized,  and  seemed  to  be  the  angels  of  old  joys ; 
and  they  looked  with  such  pitying  tenderness  into  my  eyes, 
that  tears  would  gush  from  them  in  hot  torrents.  And  then 
tJl  mirthful  phantasies  would  dance  and  gleam  about  me,  in 
such  quaint  shapes  of  sparkling  beauty,  that  I  would  laugh 
aloud  and  stretch  my  arms  to  clasp,  that  I  might  kiss  them. 
But  when,  from  sheer  exhaustion,  I  was  compelled  to  lie 
down,  then  the  awful  hell  of  torture  would  commence  to 


METAPHYSICS   OF   BEAR   HUNTING.  375 

rage  within  me ;  and  famine  would  tear  and  wrench  at  my 
vitals.  Thirst,  fiery  thirst,  would  seethe,  and  boil,  and  shoot 
like  electric  flame  along  my  veins. 

In  this  condition  I  had  been  moving  along  like  one  in  a 
dreadful  dream,  for  two  days,  and  yet  no  alleviation.  I  still 
clung  to  my  gun ;  but,  merciful  heavens !  how  heavy  it  had 
become.  It  felt  like  Goliath's  beam ;  sunk  into  my  flesh, 
and  seemed  to  be  crushing  the  very  bones.  Yet  I  would 
not  give  it  up.  I  could  not  bear  the  thought  of  being  killed 
without  the  opportunity  of  revenge.  It  would  have  been  a 
glorious  happiness  to  have  met  the  Comanches,  and  died 
defiant.  Those  fiend-whelps,  the  wolves,  to  have  them 
snarling  their  white  fangs  over  me,  while  I  was  yet  alive, 
was  too  horrible. 

I  had  almost  lost  the  capability  of  further  wrestling  with 
inevitable  fate,  when  I  suddenly  noticed  on  the  prairie  before 
me,  that  which  appeared  like  a  cluster  of  trees.  I  was  strong 
again  in  an  instant.  My  feet  seemed  to  bo  shod  with  some 
buoyant  principle.  "Water!  water!  water."  my  parched 
lips  articulated  at  every  step.  As  I  approached,  I  could 
perceive  there  were  other  "motts"  scattered  at  wide  intervals 
of  miles  in  a  line  across  the  plain.  This  I  knew  indicated 
the  presence  of  a  stream;  and  oh,  what  a  thrill  of  hope,  for 
I  was  humbled  now,  it  sent  through  my  weakened  frame. 

In  an  hour  I  reached  the  nearest  "mott," — a  cluster  of 
scrubby  timber,  covering  about  thirty  square  feet — and  I 
almost  screamed  with  eager  delight,  as  I  saw  from  the  gully 
on  which  it  stood,  the  gleam  of  water.  I  dropped  my  gun, 
tumbled  down  the  bank,  threw  myself  prostrate  on  the  brink, 
and  plunged  my  head  up  to  the  shoulders  in  the  clear  fluid. 
I  gulped  several  huge  rapid  swallows  on  the  instant ;  but 
when  I  paused  for  breath — horror  of  horrors  ! — Great  God! 
it  was  as  salt  as  brine  !  It  all  came  up  in  an  instant,  and  it 
was  like  tearing  out  my  vitals.  The  blackness  of  darkness 
came  around  my  brain.  I  was  insensible. 


376  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD  HUNTEKS. 


I  cannot  tell  how  long  I  lay  there,  but  I  fell  with  a  portion 
of  my  body  in  the  water,  and  this  revived  me.  I  waked  to 
consciousness,  with  my  brain  clearer  than  it  had  been  for 
several  days.  I  felt  that  the  game  was  all  up  now,  and  a 
strange  calmness  took  possession  of  me.  I  smiled  even,  to 
think  what  a  wild  feverish  struggle  I  had  gone  through  to 
preserve  a  boon  so  utterly  worthless  as  life  now  seemed — 
and  how  foolishly  obstreperous  and  bitter  I  had  been  about 
things  that  now  appeared  as  mere  conventional  whimsicalities ! 
To  die  !  why  it  is  a  sweet,  a  glorious  prospect !  What  was 
life  without  the  joy  and  happiness  of  dying?  To  die  of 
starvation  !  It  will  be  deliciously  pleasant,  as  being  lulled 
to  sleep  by  the  roundelays  of  home. 

Strange  !  I  never  thought  of  God  now  but  as  a  name ;  it 
was  an  inevitable  law  of  being  I  obeyed,  gladly  and  meekly ! 
The  fancy  took  possession  of  me  that  I  wanted  to  lie  down 
on  the  green  moss  under  the  trees.  I  must  make  one  more 
effort  to  get  there.  I  attempted  to  crawl,  but  was  too  weak, 
and  fell !  I  lay  for  some  time,  and  still  that  fancy  haunted 
me  so  singularly,  that  my  powerless  limbs  regained  a  partial 
vigor ;  I  crawled  on  my  hands  and  knees  up  the  bank.  It 
took  me  a  long  time  to  do  this.  I  felt  as  if  it  was  my  last 
duty,  and  desperately  I  struggled  to  accomplish  it.  I  passed 
my  gun  and  dragged  it  along  with  me.  I  thought  of  the 
wolves,  and  wanted  to  go  to  sleep  in  peace. 

I  reached  the  mott.  There  was  one  bright  green  spot, 
under  the  largest  tree,  in  the  centre.  That's  the  place. 
It  will  be  a  lovely  couch.  I  managed  to  reach  it,  and 
stretched  myself  upon  my  back,  with  my  gun  by  my  side, 
and  my  head  resting  on  a  cushion  of  moss  near  the  root. 
My  eyes  were  closed.  An  indescribable  sense  of  weakness 
pervaded  my  being.  I  felt  that  I  should  never  rise  from 
that  place  again.  But  I  was  happy.  The  agony  was  over ; 
the  "fitful  fever"  had  grown  cal.n,  and  was  slowly  sinking 
me  to  rest.  The  loved  faces  of  that  far  away  home  came 


METAPHYSICS   OF  BEAR  HUNTING.  377 

around  me  for  the  farewell.  Others  stooped  from  the  clouds 
and  beckoned  and  smiled  for  me  to  come  on.  They  wore 
wings — oh,  how  I  longed  to  be  with  them.  It  was  a  pleasant 
trance.  I  felt  that  I  should  never  lose  sight  of  them  again : 
that  before  many  hours  I  should  feel  myself,  buoyant  as  they, 
rise  up  from  the  damp  earth,  and  float  away  towards  the 
stars.  A  sunbeam,  struggling  through  the  leaves,  fell  on 
my  closed  lids,  and  shocked  me  back  to  earth  again.  I 
opened  my  eyes  for  one  more  look  at  the  glad  sun  and 
beautiful  earth.  I  looked  up. 

What !  can  it  be  ?  Strange  !  strange  !  There  is  a  God ! 
That  very  being  / — poor  I — had  thought  to  scorn,  is  here 
in  the  sublimity  of  mercy.  He  has  work  for  thee  to  do,  and 
has  willed  thou  shalt  not  die  yet ! 

Directly  above  me,  within  six  feet  of  my  face,  crouching 
close  to  the  body  of  the  tree,  was  a  large  Fox  squirrel.  The 
instant  my  eye  fell  upon  it,  I  felt  that  I  had  been  reprieved, 
and  life  and  all  its  objects  rushed  back  upon  my  heart  again. 
Not  a  shadow  of  an  idea  crossed  my  mind  that  there  was 
even  a  possibility  of  the  creature  escaping  me.  I  felt  as 
well  assured  that  I  should  get  back  to  Bexar,  and  home,  as 
if  I  had  already  been  sitting  in  the  old  rocking  chair.  I 
felt  awed,  too,  for  here  was  the  rebuke,  broad  and  bright  as 
the  sun's  path,  of  my  feeble  and  impious  presumption  ! 

Who  shall  sound  Thy  compassion  with  a  plummet,  thou 
marvelous  Majesty  of  Heaven  ?  His  hand — the  hand  of  the 
God  of  Jacob  !  This  is  His  act !  I  have  looked  upon  that 
hand,  and  in  that  act  have  heard  his  pitying  voice.  "  Go, 
thou  poor  worm, — live,  and  sin  no  more !"  I  lay  perfectly 
still  several  minutes,  watching  it  breathe,  and  thinking  how 
its  poor  life  had  been  given  for  mine.  I  had  been  too  weak 
to  raise  my  hand  before,  now  I  slowly,  and  with  care,  lifted 
my  gun  with  one  hand,  without  changing  my  position  at  all, 
raised  it  without  aim,  for  I  felt  I  couldn't  miss  it,  and  fired. 
It  fell  upon  my  breast.  I  sat  up,  drew  my  knife,  cut  it  up 


378  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

deliberately,  and  ate  as  much  as  I  cared  at  once,  raw !  and 
then,  with  the  first  prayer  of  Faith,  of  thanksgiving,  and  of 
praise  that  ever  breathed  upon  my  lips,  sunk  back,  and  was 
Bound  asleep  in  a  moment. 

I  slept  for  twenty-four  hours,  as  near  as  I  can  judge. 
On  waking,  I  finished  the  remainder  of  the  squirrel,  and 
felt  quite  able  to  walk  again ;  though,  on  attempting  to  rise, 
I  staggered  sorely  for  awhile.  But  the  conviction  that  I 
should  meet  with  no  further  difficulty,  had  become  a  matter 
of  such  positive  certainty,  that  I  never  dreamed  of  a  doubt. 

"  The  evidence  of  things  unseen"  had  reached  me  through 
the  material  at  last.  Faith  looked  farther  and  higher  than 
the  senses.  I  knew  that  I  knew !  The  Penates  of  the  soul, 
the  image  of  the  desolation  and  the  humble  instrument,  had 
assumed  their  holy  niches  !  I  was  happy,  full  of  love,  and 
humble.  Spring-time  visions  came  again.  The  brazen, 
glowing  sky,  and  the  red,  cloudy  earth,  had  passed  from 
before  my  eyes,  and  the  blue  heavens  and  a  natural  sun 
were  over  me.  The  ice-ring  melted  from  around  my  heart, 
sense  and  thought  and  brain  were  clear  again !  The  madness 
had  passed  away.  I  clapped  my  hands  and  laughed  aloud 
for  joy ! 

In  about  two  hours  I  saw  two  men  on  horseback,  herding 
a  drove  of  cattle.  I  was  not  surprised.  I  expected  something 
of  the  sort.  The  men  rode  towards  me.  I  saw  they  were 
Mexicans.  I  knew  there  was  nothing  to  expect  from  these 
traitorous  wretches,  by  fair  means,  so  I  concealed  my  gun 
by  running  it  up  my  hunting-shirt,  and  waited  for  them  to 
come  within  range.  They  approached  very  cautiously,  and 
when  they  were  within  thirty  paces  of  me,  I  drew  my  gun 
suddenly  forth  and  brought  it  to  bear  upon  them.  They 
were  desperately  frightened,  and  would  have  wheeled  and 
galloped  off,  but  something  in  my  look  showed  that  I  was 
not  joking.  I  ordered  them  up  to  me,  dismounted  the  one 
on  the  best  horse,  took  his  seat,  waved  my  hand  in  adieu  to 


METAPHYSICS   OF  BEAR   HUNTING.  379 

the  chapfallen-looking  scoundrels,  who  had  expected  to  plunder 
me,  and  galloped  off. 

The  motion  of  the  horse  was  dreadful.  I  remember 
dropping  the  bridle,  and  seizing  the  high  pommel  with  both 
hands,  while  the  horse  dashed  off  towards  the  eastward,  at 
the  top  of  his  speed.  The  next  thing  I  remember  was  being 
lifted  off  by  the  Rangers  at  the  door  of  Johnson's,  in  the 
square  of  Bexar.  I  heard  some  of  them  say,  "  Poor  fellow ! 
I  thought  it  was  his  ghost." 

The  clays  were  a  blank  then  for  several  weeks.  My  next 
waking  was  in  a  pleasant  room,  in  bed,  with  the  little  Doctor 
bending  anxiously  over  me.  I  was  safe — the  crisis  was 
past !  The  Doctor  had  been  wounded,  and  was  now  a  spare, 
thin  little  body.  I  supposed  he,  too,  had  seen  his  troubles. 

It  appeared  that  the  body  of  Comanches  had  been  very 
large.  They  had  attacked  the  different  detachments  of  our 
scattered  party,  very  nearly  at  the  same  time,  and  so  entirely 
dispersed  it,  that  not  more  than  two  ever  got  together  again. 
Two  men  had  been  killed,  and  several  others  wounded.  Hays 
had  saved  the  Doctor's  life,  with  the  faithful  aid  of  pony; 
and  it  is  said  the  Doctor  means  to  have  pony  embalmed  when 
he  dies.  All  had  a  hard  time  coming  in;  but  my  case  was 
rather  the  most  desperate. 

The  sagacious  critic  will  no  doubt  smile  at  the  importance 
I  have  attached  to  these  simple  incidents.  He  is  free  to 
sneer — they  are  facts,  and  the  most  remarkable  under  the 
circumstances  that  ever  came  under  my  observation.  This 
"  mott"  was  not  more  than  thirty  feet  square ;  the  trees 
dwarfish,  and  none  of  them  nut-bearing.  It  was  fully  six 
miles,  above  and  below,  to  the  other  motts,  and  they  were 
not  so  large  as  this  one,  and  were  thirty  miles  from  any 
other  timber. 

The  sterile  prairie  produced  nothing  which  I  could  perceive 
to  be  natural  food  for  such  an  animal.  It  may  have  been 


380  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

migrating,  but  they  generally  do  so  in  large  numbers,  keeping 
near  the  water ;  there  was  none  in  this  region.  How  the 
creature  got  there,  and  how  it  lived,  will  always  be  a  positive 
mystery  to  me.  The  impression  made  by  this  combination 
of  singular  circumstances — the  fact  of  its  being  there  at  all — • 
then  of  my  seeing  it,  just  at  the  crisis  when  I  thought  I  was 
dying — its  crouching  so  close  to  me  as  to  make  it  a  matter 
of  impossibility  almost  for  me  to  fail  of  killing  it,  even  in  my 
feeble  condition, — all  together,  it  can  never  fade  from  iny 
memory. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

HUNTING   PE    CABLES   IN   TEXAS — A   BEAR-HUNT   WITHOUT 
THE    METAPHYSICS. 

NATURALISTS  are  very  fond  of  calling  our  American  ani- 
mals cowardly.  This  sweeping  statement  is  only  a  partial 
tr-U  ;  and  I,  for  one,  have  got  tired  of  hearing  it  reiterated. 
The  animals  of  this  continent  were  originally  just  as  ferocious 
towards  man, — if  that's  what  they  call  bravery,  and  the  fear 
of  him  cowardice ! — as  were  any  of  the  most  formidable  of 
the  Eastern  hemisphere,  in  proportion  to  the  size  and  strength 
of  the  races. 

Our  forefathers,  with  their  terrible  rifles  in  hand,  found 
our  wild  beasts  quite  sufficiently  disposed,  for  their  comfort, 

381 


382  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

to  dispute  ascendency  with  them  in  the  land.  They  had 
been  accustomed  to  grapple  with  the  Bed  man,  armed  only 
as  he  was  with  lance  and  bow,  and  in  these  conflicts,  tho 
animals  were  by  no  means  unfrequently  the  conquerors. 
Now  they  are  compelled  to  battle  with  a  new  and  invisible 
power — an  agent  as  mysterious  in  its  operations,  as  it  is 
terrible  in  its  effects — which,  as  it  overawed  and  intimidated 
their  ancient  foes,  the  Red  men,  might  well  be  expected  to  fill 
them  with  the  panic  of  an  indefinable  dread. 

The  growth  of  this  wholesome  fear  has  been  very  gradual 
and  slow.  The  rifle  had  driven  them  from  frontier  to  frontier 
of  all  the  older  States,  before  any  marked  cnange  in  their 
respect  for  the  genus  homo  began  to  be  apparent. 

The  Panther,  which  at  first  made  fight  wita  the  hunter 
wherever  he  met  him,  had  learned  to  be  mere  circumspect, 
and  instead  of  becoming  the  assailant,  and  leaping  from  the 
limb  whereon  he  crouched  above,  do-v/n  on  his  foe  below,  was 
content  to  let  him  pass,  and  stand  cnt.'/cly  upon  the  defensive ; 
even  the  Black  Bear,  who  forrr.crly  had  been  notorious  for 
his  unceremonious  habit  of  purhing  his  cold  nose  into  what- 
ever he  might  perceive  going  on  before  him,  be  the  actors 
who  they  might,  became  almost  a  proverb  of  prudence.  The 
wild  cat,  who  sometimes  lost  his  temper  in  love-making  time, 
and  challenged  any  buck-skinned  intruder  he  might  meet  on 
the  war-path  for  a  fight  hand  to  claw,  now  contented  himself 
with  "giving  the  road"  as  his  sagacious  nostrils  recognized 
the  smell  of  gunpowder  ahead. 

Now  these  changes  should  not  by  any  means  be  stigmatized 
as  the  result  of  cowardice,  but  be  honorably  set  down  to  the 
credit  of  a  cautious  reasoning  :  they  had  found  an  enemy 
armed  with  an  agency,  the  nature  or  effects  of  which  they 
could  neither  comprehend  nor  counteract ;  they  therefore 
wisely  concluded  to  avoid  it — just  as  any  other  logical 
thinkers,  reasoning  from  experience,  would  have  done. 

However,  let  any  of  those  believers  in  the  cowardice  of 


HUNTING   PECCARIES   IN   TEXAS.  383 

our  wild  animals,  even  at  this  late  day,  venture  into  the 
fastnesses  of  the  Dismal  Swamp,  or  any  of  those  enormous 
cane-brakes  locked  up  within  the  sluggish  embrace  of  the 
bayous  of  the  Mississippi,  and  propose  to  shake  hands  with 
the  first  Panther  he  meets,  or  offer  the  fraternal  hug  to  Bruin, 
and  he  will  see  what  a  reception  he  will  find  ? — let  him  be 
armed  with  as  many  guns  and  pistols,  as  he  can  carry,  I'll 
engage  he  will  need  to  make  the  most  of  them,  the  first  timi 
he  comes  within  spring  of  a  panther,  or  treads  on  the  tail  (?) 
of  a  bear. 

The  fact  is,  the  introduction  of  fire-arms,  in  modifying  tho 
face  of  the  whole  globe,  physically  as  well  as  morally  and 
mentally,  has  not  failed,  of  course,  in  its  effects  upon  savage 
animals  as  well  as  savage  men.  If  it  has  thundered  civiliza- 
tion or  extermination  into  the  ears  of  one,  it  has  as  well 
detonated  circumspection  into  the  ears  of  the  other. 

Before  the  East  India  conquests  of  the  British  introduced 
fire-arms,  the  bold  and  open  ravages  of  lions,  tigers,  and  other 
wild  beasts,  were  frequently  carried  to  such  a  formidable 
extent,  that  whole  villages  of  the  imbecile  natives  were 
depopulated  by  a  single  animal,  to  destroy  which  armies 
had  to  be  assembled ;  and  even  they  have  been  beaten  back 
from  the  jungles,  without  effecting  their  object  more  than 
partially.  When  British  officers  first  commenced  lion  and 
tiger  hunting,  it  was  considered  the  most  dangerous  sport 
in  the  world;  and  the  records  and  correspondence  of  that 
period  teem  with  fearful  tales  of  bloody  deaths  at  the  horrid 
jaws  of  those  animals.  At  that  time,  the  tiger,  without 
hesitation,  attacked  large  parties  of  men,  leaping  into  their 
midst  from  the  jungle,  and  carrying  off  a  victim  without 
regard  to  epaulettes  or  color :  while  the  lion  charged  boldly 
into  camps,  carrying  off  men,  oxen,  or  any  other  dainties 
that  happened  to  suit  his  taste. 

In  hunting  on  elephants,  it  was  so  exceedingly  rare  to  find 
one  who  would  charge  a  jungle  after  the  scent  of  the  tiger 


384  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

had  reached  him,  that  such  an  animal  commanded  the  highest 
prices.  Now  the  tables  are  so  entirely  turned,  that  we  never 
hear  of  any  one  being  carried  off  by  these  animals,  whether 
native  or  not,  except  in  the  remote  interior  of  the  forests  of 
Bengal  and  Africa,  into  which  the  heavy  and  formidable  rifle 
of  the  British  sportsman  has  not  yet  carried  its  ounce-ball 
terrors.  While  hunting  on  elephants  has  become  a  sport, 
attended  with  so  little  danger,  that  even  the  placid  nerves 
of  a  clerk  from  Threadneedle  street  may  now  venture  to 
partake  of  the  indulgence,  fortified  with  a  little  cotton  stuffed 
in  his  ears  to  drown  the  roars  of  the  brute,  and  a  little  sal 
volatile  to  stay  his  spirits  when  the  blood  begins  to  flow. 

The  dreaded  tiger  now  skulks  in  caves  and  deepest  jungles, 
until  frightened  forth  by  the  maddening  and  incessant  play 
of  rockets,  grenades,  and  every  other  species  of  torturing 
fire-works.  While  the  lordly  lion  waits  behind  the  bush  for 
the  assault  of  his  foes,  and  is  not  known  to  charge,  even 
until  several  times  wounded.  In  yielding  to  the  mastery 
m?,n  has  thus  established,  these  animals  have  lost  nothing 
of  their  original  characteristics,  except  so  far  as  their  rela- 
tions to  him  are  concerned — and  in  this  the  difference  is 
rather,  as  we  have  before  remarked,  to  man  the  mechanical 
intelligence,  than  to  man  the  animal. 

Nor  are  these  gradual  ameliorations  of  temper  and  habits, 
so  far  as  mankind  are  concerned,  confined  to  quadrupeds 
alone — birds,  and  all  other  creatures,  partake  of  them,  in 
degrees  proportioned  to  their  intelligence.  It  is  notorious 
how  soon  game  birds,  and  the  whole  family  of  rapacious 
birds,  learn  to  distinguish  a  man  with  a  gun  from  a  man 
without  a  gun,  and  with  such  sagacity  will  they  do  this,  too, 
that  we  are  seldom  able  to  surprise  them,  by  any  stratagem 
of  concealed  weapons. 

And  yet  the  white-headed  eagle  remains  the  white-headed 
eagle,  so  far  as  its  relations  to  the  rest  of  the  vorld  arc- 
concerned.  It  continues  to  thrash  the  vultures,  to  mako 


HUNTING   PECCARIES   IN  TEXAS.  385 

them  disgorge  their  food — robs  the  fish-hawk  of  his  shining 
prey  with  just  as  splendid  audacity  as  ever,  and  continues 
with  quite  as  ferocious  astuteness  to  tear  out  the  eyes  of 
any  wounded  deer  or  buffalo  cow  that  it  may  perceive  go 
aside  from  the  herd. 

But,  all  rules  have  their  exceptions — and  it  was  to  treat 
concerning  one  of  these  exceptions,  that  this  chapter  has  been 
written.  Certainly,  however  much  other  wild  animals  may 
have  yielded  to  the  awful  supremacy  of  that  dread  machine, 
behind  which  man  has  entrenched  his  physical  inferiority, 
the  Peccary  cannot  be  accused  of  the  same  weakness ;  for  of 
a  verity,  it  does  seem  to  me  that  if  those  same  formidable- 
tubes  were  to  pour  forth  the  thunders  and  fires  of  Hecla 
itself,  instead  of  the  respectable  little  volcano,  of  which  they 
at  present  can  boast,  the  belching  of  this  huge  and  noisy 
chaos  would  only  increase  the  irate  valor  of  this  curious 
little  animal.  It  seems  to  be  entirely  insensible  to  all  those 
sudden  influences,  the  unexpected  supervention  of  which  are 
sure  to  cause  panic  in  other  animals.  Ungovernable  rage 
seems  to  take  the  place  of  this  panic — a  rage  quite  as  head- 
long and  as  blind.  Though  scarcely  more  than  eighteen 
inches  high  by  two  and  a  half  feet  in  length,  it  is  yet, 
really,  one  of  the  most  formidable  animals  belonging  to  our 
hemisphere.  It  is  gregarious,  and  goes  in  droves  of  from 
ten  to  fifty.  Its  jaws  are  armed  after  the  manner  of  the 
wild  boar,  with  tushes,  but  they  are  of  very  different  shape, 
and  if  possible,  more  to  be  dreaded.  They  stand  straight  in 
the  jaws,  instead  of  curving  upwards,  and  have  the  form  as 
well  as  keenness  of  the  lancet  blade.  Their  motions  are  as 
quick  as  lightning,  and  with  shoulders,  head  and  neck 
possessing  extraordinary  muscular  power,  they  manage  to 
slash  and  gash  in  the  most  horrible  manner  with  these 
villainous  little  weapons,  which  arc  only  about  an  inch  and 
a  half  in  length.  As  they  do  not  hesitate  to  attack  any- 
thing or  any  body,  big  or  little,  provocation  or  no  provo- 

25 


386  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS.  ' 

cation,  that  may  chance  to  cross  their  paths,  men  and 
animals  very  soon  learn  that  their  only  safety  is  in  flight. 
As  they  rush  upon  the  object  in  a  body,  and  fight  until  the 
last  of  their  number  is  slain,  it  is  fruitless  to  stop  and  battle 
with  them,  as  they  would  cut  either  a  man  or  the  largest 
animal,  so  badly,  before  they  could  all  be  despatched,  that 
the  victory  would  prove  a  dear  one  indeed. 

There  is  no  wild  animal  that  will  stop  to  fight  them,  and 
men,  dogs  and  horses  run  from  them  in  the  most  ridiculous 
consternation — indeed,  they  are  the  very  terror  of  hunters. 

This  droll  creature  seems  to  be  exactly  the  intermediate 
between  the  family  of  hedge-hogs  and  that  of  the  wild  boar, 
or  common  hog.  Its  general  form,  so  far  as  the  body  is 
concerned,  resembles  rather  more  that  of  the  hedge-hog, 
while  its  hair,  which  is  about  the  average  length  of  the 
bristles  of  the  common  hog,  is  thinly  set  in  a  rough  skin, 
and  flattened  and  sharp,  as  are  the  spines  of  the  hedge-hog, 
and  of  the  same  bony  consistence  in  appearance,  though  so 
thin  as  not  to  be  prickly  to  the  touch,  except  very  slightly, 
when  erected — as  they  always  are  if  the  animal  is  enraged, 
after  the  manner  of  the  whole  family  of  porcupines.  These 
'thin  spines,  or  hairs,  are  also  parti-colored — being  barred  with 
the  muddy  white  and  bluish  chocolate,  producing  the  general 
effect  of  a  roan — they  are  destitute  of  a  tail,  (excepting 
merely  a  fleshy  protuberance,)  in  common  with  the  hedge-hog, 
and  have  that  curious  gland  which  is  vulgarly  called  the 
"navel  on  the  back."  They  have  no  appearance  of  the 
navel  underneath;  and  this  depression  of  the  spine,  which 
is  directly  over  the  loin,  looks  more  like  a  navel  than 
anything  else,  though  it  contains  a  dcpositc  of  a  certain 
musk,  which  the  animal  gives  forth  when  excited,  and  which 
assimilates  it  again  with  the  civet-cat  of  the  East.  Its 
shoulders,  neck  and  head  resemble  the  wild  boar  quite 
closely  in  conformation,  though  the  outline,  of  course,  is 
much  more  delicate,  and  sharpened  at  the  snout.  Its  legs 


HUNTING   PECCARIES   IN   TEXAS.  387 

and  feet,  also,  are  much  like  those  of  the  boar.  Its  food 
partakes  of  the  character  of  that  of  both  the  boar  and  the 
hedge-hog,  consisting  of  mast,  wild  fruits,  grains,  grasses, 
shoots  of  cane,  roots,  herbs,  reptiles,  &c. 

But,  with  all  its  other  peculiarities  to  answer  for,  the 
drollest  is  yet  to  come.  I  refer  to  their  mode  of  sleeping. 
They  usually  frequent  those  heavy  cane-brakes,  through 
which  are  scattered,  at  wide  intervals,  trees  of  enormous 
size  and  age.  These,  from  their  isolated  condition,  are 
most  exposed  to  the  fury  of  storms,  and,  therefore,  most 
liable  to  be  thrown  down.  We  find  their  giant  stems 
stretched  here  and  there,  through  the  cane-brakes  of  Texas, 
overgrown  with  the  densest  thickets  of  the  cane,  matted 
together  by  strong  and  thorny  vines.  In  these  old  trees 
the  Peccaries  find  their  favorite  lodgings.  Into  one  of  these 
logs  a  drove  of  twenty  or  thirty  of  them  will  enter  at  night, 
each  one  backing  in,  so  that  the  last  one  entering  stands 
with  his  nose  at  the  entrance.  The  planters,  who  dread 
them  and  hate  them — as  well  on  account  of  the  ravages  on 
their  grain  crops  which  they  commit,  the  frequent  destruction 
or  mutilation  by  them  of  their  stock,  their  favorite  dogs, 
and  sometimes  horses  even,  as  on  account  of  the  ridiculous 
predicaments,  such  as  taking  to  a  tree,  or  running  for  clear 
life,  ect.,  to  which  they  have  been  subjected  themselves  by 
them, — seek  their  destruction  with  the  greatest  eagerness. 
When  a  hollow  log  has  been  found,  which  bears  the  marks 
of  being  used  by  them,  they  wait  with  great  impatience  till 
the  first  dark,  cloudy  day  of  rain.  A  dark  drizzle  is  the 
best,  as  it  is  well  known  that  on  such  days  they  do  not 
leave  their  lodgings  at  all. 

The  planter,  concealing  himself  just  before  day  carefully 
out  of  view,  but  directly  in  front  of  the  opening  of  the  log, 
awaits  in  patient  silence  the  coming  of  sufficient  light.  Soon 
as  the  day  opens,  peering  cautiously  through  the  cane  he 


388  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

can  perceive  the  protruded  snout  and  sharp  watchful  eyes  of 
the  sentinel  Peccary  on  duty,  while  his  fellows  behind  him 
sleep.  Noiselessly  the  unerring  rifle  is  raised,  the  ring  of 
its  explosion  is  heard,  and  with  a  convulsive  spring  the 
sentinel  leaps  forward  out  of  the  hole,  and  rolls  in  its  death 
struggle  on  the  ground.  Scarcely  an  instant  is  passed,  a 
low  grunt  is  heard,  and  another  pair  of  eyes  is  seen  shining 
steadily  in  the  place  the  others  had  just  held.  Not  a  sound 
is  heard,  the  planter  loads  again  with  such  dexterity  that 
not  even  a  branch  of  the  embowering  cane  is  stirred.  Again, 
with  steady  nerve,  the  piece  is  fired,  out  springs  the  second 
victim,  as  the  first  had  done;  then  another  takes  its  place, 
and  so  on  to  the  third,  fourth,  fifth,  or  twentieth,  even  to 
the  last  of  the  herd;  unless  he  should  happen,  by  some 
carelessness,  to  make  a  stir  in  the  cane  around  him,  when 
out  it  springs,  with  a  short  grunt,  without  waiting  to  be  shot 
this  time,  and  followed  by  the  whole  herd,  when  they  make 
a  dash  straight  at  the  unlucky  sportsman,  who  is  now  glad 
enough  to  take  to  his  heels,  and  blesses  his  stars  if  he  should 
be  able  to  climb  a  tree  or  a  fence,  in  time  to  save  his  legs. 
If,  during  the  firing,  the  sentinel  should  happen  to  sink  in 
the  hole  without  making  the  usual  spring,  the  one  behind 
him  roots  out  the  body  to  take  its  place.  They  do  not 
understand  what  the  danger  is,  or  whence  it  comes.  Neither 
do  they  fear  it,  but  face  its  mysterious  power  dauntless  to 
the  last.  They  never  charge  towards  unseen  enemies,  until 
guided  either  by  the  sight  of  some  disturbance  caused  by  a 
motion  in  the  thicket,  or  by  those  sounds,  with  which  they 
are  familiar,  indicating  their  position.  Incredible  as  this 
account  may  appear,  it  is  actually  the  method  in  which  the 
settlements  along  Cancy  Creek  and  on  the  Brazos  Bottoms 
have  been,  of  late  years,  in  a  great  measure  relieved  of  this 
dangerous  annoyance.  When  one  is  taken  in  a  snare  or 
trap,  it  is  torn  to  pieces  by  the  others  in  their  eagerness  to 


HUNTING   PECCAKIES   IN  TEXAS.  389 

get  it  free.  The  planters  amuse  themselves  very  much  by 
relating  these  adventures,  as  there  are  many  mirth-provoking 
scrapes  connected  with  them. 

My  first  adventure  with  the  peccaries  I  shall  never  forget. 
I  was  stopping  with  a  planter  on  Caney  Creek  for  a  few 
days  of  rest  and  recreation.  He  was  an  old  friend  from  my 
native  State,  had  been  one  of  the  early  emigrants  to  Texas, 
and  was  now  settled  with  his  brothers  on  a  magnificent 
plantation,  of  which  their  joint  enterprise  had  made  them 
possessors.  I  was  yet  comparatively  a  new-comer,  young, 
eager,  and  withal  the  tragic  incidents  of  my  late  initiation  to 
such  life,  an  enthusiastic  sportsman.  Of  course,  I  listened 
curiously  to  their  many  relations  of  adventures  in  the  chase, 
which  always  form  the  chief  topic  of  the  social  intercourse  of 
the  border.  It  happened  that  the  Peccaries  had  lately  been 
doing  much  mischief  to  their  crops  of  grain,  and  as  they 
had  been  hunting  them  with  great  zeal  and  wrath,  they 
formed  the  principal  theme  of  denunciation  and  narrative. 
Their  invective  became  quite  amusing  as  they  took  me  out 
to  show  me  several  of  their  finest  dogs,  which  had  been 
disabled  by  the  shocking  mutilation  received  in  accidental 
meetings  with  this  fierce  little  animal.  I  say  accidental, 
because  no  dog  could  be  found  hardy  enough  to  hunt  it,  after 
having  had  one  taste  of  its  quality.  The  eldest  brother  told 
me  of  a  meeting  with  them  the  day  before.  He  had  walked 
out  with  his  rifle  into  a  field  of  grain,  on  the  border  of  the 
plantation,  to  look  for  fresh  traces  of  the  bear,  which, 
together  with  the  Peccary,  had  almost  utterly  destroyed  his 
corn.  Here,  by  way  of  parenthesis,  he  exclaimed,  "  And  I 
did  find  the  tracks  of  a  whopping  old  he!" 

"Let  us  go  hunting  him  then,  this  morning!"  we  all 
exclaimed  in  a  breath. 

"Well,  well,  we'll  see." 

"When  near  the  outside  fence,  he  suddenly  came  upcn  a 
drove  of  Peccaries  in  the  very  act  of  demolishmcnt.  It  was 


390  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

too  late  to  retreat  decorously,  for  lie  Lad  already  been  seen, 
and  as  is  usual,  they  came  charging  headlong  upon  him, 
grunting  and  snapping  their  white  tusks  at  every  jump. 
It  was  useless  to  stop  to  shoot,  taking  to  his  heels  was  his 
only  chance.  He  made  for  the  fence,  which  he  succeeded 
in  climbing  before  they  reached  him.  The  foremost  of  them 
reared  themselves  on  their  hind  legs,  endeavoring  to  reach 
him,  cutting  at  his  feet  with  their  sharp  tusks  most  viciously. 
It  was  a  loose  worm  fence,  and  not  very  high,  and  they  kept 
him  there  for  a  few  moments,  dancing,  to  use  his  own 
expression,  "like  a  hen  upon  a  hot  griddle,"  while  he  fired 
as  rapidly  as  he  could  load.  He  had  killed  several,  without 
any  diminution  of  their  ferocity.  It  rather  indeed  seemed 
to  be  increased,  if  possible,  when  suddenly,  to  his  unutterable 
consternation,  the  frail  fence  broke  down,  and  he  measured 
his  length  backward,  in  the  cane  outside.  He  sprang  to  his 
feet,  as  you  may  imagine,  with  some  celerity,  and,  before 
they  could  reach  him,  over  the  ruins  of  the  fence,  had  fairly 
vacated.  After  a  hearty  laugh  at  this  ridiculous  misadventure, 
the  preparations  for  the  bear  hunt  immediately  commenced. 

We  were  soon  mounted  and  under  weigh,  four  of  us,  and 
attended  by  a  negro  "  driver"  on  horseback,  who,  with  his 
long  cow's-horn  swung  about  his  neck,  was  to  "put  out" 
the  pack.  The  dogs  were  a  fine  and  powerful  breed,  used 
exclusively  for  bear  hunting,  and  came  of  a  cross  of  the 
bull-dog  on  the  fox-hound — they  were  all  scarred  with  the 
tusks  of  the  Peccary  and  the  claws  of  the  bear.  On  our 
way  across  the  plantation  my  friend  was  particular  in 
counselling  me  how  to  behave  in  the  event  of  any  unpleasant 
rencontre  with  the  Peccaries — for  he  assured  me  flight  was 
my  only  alternative,  unless  I  desired  to  have  my  horse 
ham-strung,  or  every  leg  hopelessly  gashed.  I  promised 
to  be  very  prudent,  of  course,  but  with  the  opening  yell 
of  our  dogs,  all  recollection  of  the  existence  of  such  creatures 
as  Peccaries  vanished. 


HUNTING   PECCARIES   IN   TEXAS.  391 

There  was  a  nobler  quarry  on  foot,  and  we  plunged  our 
horses  eagerly  into  the  narrow  tracks  opening  into  the 
cane-brake  in  the  direction  of  the  chase.  We  soon  found 
ourselves  riding  beneath  the  matted  arches  formed  by  the 
meeting  of  the  cane-tops,  bound  together  by  vines,  ten  or 
twelve  feet  above  our  heads.  The  cane  on  either  side 
formed  a  wall  so  close,  and  seemingly  so  impregnable,  that 
it  seemed  to  me  that  a  starved  lizard  would  have  found 
difficulty  in  making  its  way  between  the  stems.  So  long 
as  we  could  remain  in  the  paths,  of  which  there  were  but 
few,  it  was  all  very  nice  and  exciting  to  listen  to  the  fitful 
music  of  the  chase ;  but  when  it  came  bursting  on  us  with 
a  roar  of  fitful  yells,  that  made  our  horses  shiver  with 
eagerness,  and  we  scattered  each  man  for  himself,  trusting 
to  his  own  ear,  to  enable  him  to  intercept  the  chase,  and 
win  the  honor  of  the  first  shot,  then  the  rough  and  fierce 
realities  of  a  bear  hunt  began  to  be  realized.  My  fiery 
horse  plunged  into  the  thickest  of  the  brake,  requiring  my 
whole  strength  to  keep  him  within  anything  like  bounds. 
Now  the  bear  had  commenced  circling  in  short  turns  through 
the  tallest  and  most  dense  of  the  cane ;  and  very  soon,  when 
the  thundering  chase  went  crashing  past  me,  utterly  invisible, 
though  within  fifteen  paces,  my  horse  became  entirely 
unmanageable,  and  in  three  or  four  furious  bounds,  I  was 
torn  from  the  saddle  by  the  interlacing  vines,  through  which 
he  was  endeavoring  to  burst  his  way.  I  held  on  to  the  reins, 
and  recovered  my  seat,  without  stopping  to  count  bruises  ; 
but  the  shock  of  the  fall  had  brought  me  to  my  memory. 
I  now  did  what  I  should  have  done  at  first,  had  I  retained  my 
self-possession,  drew  my  heavy  boAvie  knife,  and  commenced 
cutting  my  way  through  the  brake.  Ho  !  the  chase  has  made 
another  tack ;  and  followed  by  the  yells  of  my  half-crazy 
comrades,  the  wild  route  turns  crashing  and  roaring  towards 
ir;e  again.  This  time  my  horse  was  even  worse  than  before.  At 
the  first  plunge  he  again  became  entangled  in  the  vir.es,  and 


392  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

•whirling  round  and  round  in  his  furious  efforts  to  release 
himself,  I  soon  had  the  satisfaction  of  finding  myself  and 
horse  twisted  up  in  a  net  that  would  have  defied  the  strength 
of  Samson  to  have  burst.  The  pleasure  of  this  predicament 
was  not  a  little  increased,  by  the  sight  of  the  bear  rushing 
past  at  a  few  feet  distance,  with  the  whole  pack  biting  at  his 
heels. 

Alas  for  my  prowess !  in  what  a  helpless  case  was  I. 
The  moment  my  horse  saw  the  bear,  he  uttered  a  wild 
neigh — it  was  the  first  one  he  had  ever  faced — and  backed 
with  such  ungovernable  terror  and  strength,  that  I  was 
almost  torn  to  pieces  by  the  vines,  and  choked  in  the  bar- 
gain. However,  at  the  expense  of  my  coat  sleeve,  which 
was  torn  out  at  the  arm-hole,  my  bleeding  right  arm  was 
freed  from  the  infernal  mesh,  when  a  few  desperate  strokes 
of  my  bowie-knife  freed  us  from  our  desperate  thraldom. 
Now  came,  from  near  at  hand,  the  deafening  clamor  of 
baying,  of  shrieks,  and  hoarse  growling,  which  told  that 
the  bear  had  stopped  to  fight  the  dogs.  Now  is  the  chance 
for  the  coveted  shot,  and  it  required  no  spur  to  urge  my 
horse  in  that  direction.  I  commenced  hewing  my  way 
towards  the  scene,  which  seemed  to  be  at  the  foot  of  a 
large  tree.  I  heard  the  shouts  of  my  friends,  who  seemed 
to  be  urging  their  way  towards  the  same  point.  At  about 
the  same  moment  two  of  us  burst  our  way  through  the  wall 
of  cane  into  the  open  space,  about  twenty  feet  in  circum- 
ference, that  had  been  beaten  down  by  the  weight  of  the 
enormous  bear,  during  the  battle.  And  such  a  scene  as  it 
was  !  The  bear,  hearing  our  approach,  had  made  an  attempt 
to  climb  the  tree,  and  the  dogs,  encouraged  by  the  same 
sounds,  had  made  a  simultaneous  rush,  and  were  literally 
all  over  his  huge  carcass,  having  hold  of  him  on  every  side  ; 
our  guns  were  instantly  presented,  but  we  feared  to  fire  lest 
we  should  kill  the  dogs. 

While  we  stood  thus  hesitating,  and  the  bear  was  tossing 


HUNTING   PECCARIES   IN   TEXAS. 

the  j'Oor  dogs  like  shuttlecocks  to  the  right  and  left,  quicker 
than  thought,  a  troop  of  grunting  Peccaries  came  rushing  in, 
and  charged  headlong  upon  bear,  dogs,  and  all.  Such  yells, 
and  screams,  and  roars  of  pain,  and  such  a  medley  helter- 
skelter  rout  as  now  occurred,  would  be  difficult  to  describe. 
The  wounded  dogs,  with  tails  between  their  legs,  came 
skulking  towards  us.  The  bear,  frantic  with  pain,  rolled 
his  great  carcass  to  and  fro,  and  gaped  his  red  mouth,  as 
he  struck  blindly  about  him  here  and  there.  The  grunting' 
and  rushing  patter  of  an  addition  to  the  herd  coming  in 
behind  us,  waked  us  from  the  sort  of  stupor  this  unexpected 
scene  had  thrown  us  into  for  the  instant.  "  Run,  ran  !" 
shouted  my  friend,  with  a  voice  half  choked  with  mingled 
rage  and  laughter,  and  such  a  scurrying  on  all  sides,  for 
the  other  hunters  had  just  come  in,  and  the  cry  of  "Peccaries  ! 
Peccaries  !  run  !  run  !"  and  the  popping  of  our  guns  all  round 
at  them,  as  we  urged  our  horses  to  escape  through  the  cane, 
closed  this  eventful  scene,  of  my  first  introduction  to  the 
Peccaries ! 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE   BUFFALO. 

BUT  the  wildest  scenes  to  be  witnessed  on  this  hemisphere 
are  those  connected  with  buffalo-hunting  on  the  great  plains. 
This  huge  and  shaggy  brute  affords  a  strong  contrast  in  size 
with  the  fierce  and  bristling  little  peccary,  though  in  many 
respects  the  formidable  character  of  the  two  may  be  traced 
to  a  single  and  similar  cause.  The  "  downward  eye," 
common  to  them,  is  this  cause.  Neither  of  them,  from 
the  stiff  and  peculiar  structure  of  the  neck  and  placing  of 
the  eye-balls,  can,  without  an  effort,  see  beyond  the  direct 
plane  of  vision  presented  to  the  habitual  carriage  of  the 
head. 

Whatever  is  thus  exhibited  to  the  peccary  that  has  motion, 
if  it  be  merely  the  legs  of  an  animal,  it  charges  upon,  as 
we  have  seen ;  while  the  buffalo,  which  is  less  spontaneously 
pugnacious,  may  regard  the  same  as  an  object  of  stupid 
suspicion,  or  of  headlong,  blundering  terror.  The  buffalo 
must  be  wounded  to  turn  upon  the  pursuer,  and  then  the 
charge  of  the  goaded  and  'frantic  monster,  being  always  in 
a  straight  line,  is  disarmed  of  half  its  dangerous  character, 
as  the  hunter  is  thus  readily  enabled  to  elude  the  effects 
by  a  quick  side  motion. 

The  eye  of  the  horse  being  more  prominently  placed,  it 
is  enabled  soon  to  acquire  this  facility  of  advantage;  and 
it  is  most  surprising  with  what  wary  confidence  the  trained 
Bteed*  of  a  Black-feet,  Sioux,  or  a  Comanche  will  dash  in 
and  through  an  interminable  herd  of  these  prodigious  beasts, 

394 


THE   BUFFALO.  395 

winding  in  and  winding  9ut,  amidst  the  surging  tumult  of 
liorns  and  heels,  without  receiving  a  scratch. 

On  no  other  conditions  could  this  powerful  animal  be 
assailed  with  sufficient  effect  to  answer  the  requisitions  of 
the  numerous  tribes  upon  it  for  their  yearly  subsistence. 
Were  they  able  only  to  assail  the  outskirts  of  the  herds,  the 
foraging  they  might  do  would  be  meagerly  enough  eked  out 
upon  the  weakly  bodies  of  the  sick  and  wounded  and  super- 
annuated lingerers. 

Indeed,  were  the  buffalo  possessed  of  the  same  alert,  high- 
headed  and  agile  motions  of  the  mustang,  in  addition  to  the 
"bovine  rage"  with  which  it  seems  so  easily  inspired,  the 
weight  of  the  fore-parts  of  its  body,  and  of  the  closely- 
packed,  incalculable  columns  in  which  it  moves,  of  choice, 
would  make  it  the  most  formidable  brute  on  earth,  and 
enable  it  to  trample  the  mightiest  armies  of  men  like  grass 
in  its  path.  There  is  no  object  in  nature  so  terrible  as  the 
headlong  advance  of  a  great  herd  of  these  animals  thoroughly 
aroused  by  terror.  Niagara  itself  is  not  more  tremendously 
resistless  than  that  black,  bellowing  torrent  which  is  thus 
sometimes  poured  through  narrow  denies  of  Rocky  Mountain 
steppes,  or  which  is  suddenly  turned  loose  like  a  new  roaring 
flood,  to  overwhelm  the  slant  and  trembling  plains. 

No  sights  equalling  this  are  witnessed  elsewhere  on  the 
face  of  the  earth,  though  South  Africa  exhibits  an  approxi- 
mating parallel  in  the  migratory  movements  of  the  Spring- 
bock  and  other  antelopes,  to  which  we  shall  refer.  A 
herd  of  elephant  bulls,  may  be,  and  is  properly  esteemed 
"pro-di-gi-ous,"  by  English  adventurers  in  that  direction, 
but  the  oceanic  mases  in  which  the  native  bison  of  our 
plains  are  accustomed  to  move,  have  no  real  parallel  except 
those  in  which  our  people  urge  and  act  towards  a  given  point 
of  empire ! 

When  we  come  to  think  that  at  a  roujih  estimate,  more 

C3  ' 

than  seventy  thousand  souls  of  our  native  tribes  upon  the 


WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

plains  depend,  the  year  round,  solely  upon  the  slaughter  of 
buffalo  for  food,  covering,  and  in  a  great  measure,  implements, 
and  then  put  this  together,  with  the  consideration  that 
probably  not  more  than  one  out  of  twenty  of  the  animals 
slain  is  consumed,  beyond  the  mere  hide  or  hump,  by  these 
•  thriftless  and  wasteful  people,  some  estimate  may  be  formed 
of  the  aggregate  increase  necessary  to  keep  up  a  supply  for 
the  demand  in  this  one  quarter. 

The  inroads  of  our  own  race  upon  them,  though  great, 
are  as  yet  comparatively  insignificant.  We  are  merely 
guided  by  the  utilities,  and  have  slaughtered  them  rather 
as  objects  of  necessary  food,  than  of  commercial  interchange 
and  profit.  The  wealth  and  dignity  of  the  Indian  warrior, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  nearly  proportioned  to  the  number  of 
buffalo  robes  he  can  afford  to  dispose  of  to  the  traders,  and 
therefore  this  article  is  to  him  the  representative  of  value. 
Hence  he  follows  upon  the  track  of  the  migratory  herd,  and 
when  undisturbed,  continues  to  slay  them  with  the  sole  and 
improvident  reference  to  the  value  of  the  skins  at  the 
nearest  trading  post;  while  the  object  of  food,  amidst  its 
reeking  abundance,  is  merely  an  incidental  one.  As  it  may 
chance  he  merely  cuts  out  some  tit  bit  from  the  individual 
slain,  or  leaves  it,  after  stripping  the  skin,  to  the  wolves  who 
follow  faithfully  in  the  wake  of  their  sure  purveyor. 

The  extent  to  which  this  reckless  massacre  is,  and  has 
been  habitually  carried  by  the  prairie  Indians,  can  hardly 
be  computed ;  yet  we  have  the  strange  and  significant  fact 
that  they  have  among  them  no  tradition  even  of  an  appreciable 
diminution  in  the  numbers  of  the  buffalo  thus  wantonly 
slaughtered  by  them  from  remotest  periods,  which  antedate 
the  first  appearance  of  the  white  man  upon  their  plains  with  his 
sulphurous  and  panic-spreading  engines  of  destruction.  From 
this  ominous  event  the  tribes  date  those  fatal  refluxes  in 
the  stated  periods  and  courses  of  migration  of  the  herds, 
which  have  been  attended  by  most  disastrous  famines  among 


THE  BUFFALO.  397 

their  people.  Before  this  hated  coming  they  and  their 
fathers  had  been  accustomed  to  calculate,  with  the  same 
certainty  with  which  the  sailor  does  the  ebb  and  flow  of 
ocean  tides,  these  annual  migrations,  and  could  move  with 
or  follow  them  at  leisure  and  with  confidence ;  but  suddenly 
the  mighty  herds  have  snuffed  some  hidden  danger  on  the 
tainted  breeze,  and  breaking  away  in  mad  and  scattered 
career  over  the  plains,  have  defied  pursuit,  to  gather  again 
in  some  remote  and  unaccustomed  pastures  beyond  the  reach 
of  this  vague,  indefinite  dread  which  has  met  them  on  the 
coming  air. 

Thus  all  calculations  for  the  usual  supply  of  the  season 
having  been  thrown  entirely  out,  the  tribes  are  left  to  struggle 
with  the  precarious  chances  of  again  finding  the  buffalo. 
They,  too,  have  been  accustomed  heretofore  to  watching  the 
signs  of  the  seasons,  and  could  even  scent  a  drought  as  far 
as  the  grayest  muzzle  of  the  leaders  of  these  herds,  and 
could,  with  unfailing  sagacity,  foresee  what  variation  from 
the  usual  trail  this  would  cause  with  them.  But  now  a  new 
sign  was  in  the  heavens,  a  prognostic  of  evil,  which,  as  it 
could  only  be  felt  in  dread  by  their  savage  souls,  was  now 
first  more  nearly  interpreted  by  the  sure  instincts  of  their 
brute  co-occupants  of  these  great  solitudes  and  in  these  wild 
panics,  distant,  so  unaccountable  to  them  at  first,  they  soon 
learned  to  recognize  a  mysterious  apprehension  of  the  remote 
advance  of  that  destroying  Power,  the  realization  of  which 
has  now,  though  later,  come  to  them  more  clearly.  The 
brute  sense  proved  surer  than  the  man's  in  this,  as  in  all 
other  instances  in  which  circumstances  have  enabled  us  to 
measure  its  actions  and  their  results  in  regard  to  the 
approaches  of  our  race  into  the  wildernesses  of  earth  with  the 
fearful  appliances  of  civilization.  The  shudder  of  approach- 
ing dissolution  has  already  passed  through  all  those  vast 
herds,  as  well  as  felt  in  the  awed  souls  of  these  savago 
hunters. 


WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

Of  all  the  modes  of  hunting  the  buffalo  practised  by  the 
prairie  tribes,  there  is  no  one,  the  accompaniments  of 
which  are  of  such  characteristic  and  terrible  wildness,  as 
that  of  which  the  lithograph  given  is  a  strikingly  accurate 
delineation.  The  Indians  are  driving  a  maddened  herd  of 
buffalo  over  the  edges  of  one  of  those  tremendous  prairie 
rifts  or  canones,  as  they  are  sometimes  incorrectly  called  by 
the  border  men.  These  are  vast  yawning  fissures,  which 
suddenly  open  on  the  great  Piano  JZstacado,  which  stretches 
in  one  prodigious  plain  from  the  foot  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
to  the  head  waters  of  the  Red  River,  Arkansas,  &c.  Mr. 
Kendall's  description  of  this  scene  in  his  Santa  Fe  Expedi- 
tion, is  so  nearly  accurate,  that  I  give  it  here  in  his  own 
words. 

We  had  scarcely  proceeded  six  miles,  after  drying  our 
blankets,  when  we  suddenly  came  upon  another  immense 
rent  or  chasm  in  the  earth,  exceeding  in  depth  the  one  we 
had  so  much  difficulty  in  crossing  the  day  before.  No  one 
was  aware  of  its  existence  until  we  were  immediately  upon 
its  brink,  when  a  spectacle,  exceeding  in  grandeur  any  thing 
we  had  previously  beheld,  came  suddenly  in  view.  Not  a 
tree  or  bush,  no  outline  whatever,  marked  its  position  or 
course,  and  we  were  all  lost  in  amazement,  as  one  by  one 
we  left  the  double-file  ranks  and  rode  up  to  the  verge  of  the 
yawning  abyss. 

In  depth  it  could  not  be  less  than  eight  hundred  feet,  was 
from  three  to  five  hundred  yards  in  width,  and  at  the  point 
where  we  first  struck  it,  the  sides  were  nearly  perpendicular. 
A  sickly  sensation  of  dizziness  was  felt  by  all  as  we  looked 
down,  as  it  were,  into  the  depths  of  the  earth.  In  the  dark 
and  narrow  valley  below,  an  occasional  spot  of  green  relieved 
the  eye.  and  a  small  stream  of  water,  now  rising  to  the  view, 
then  sinking  beneath  some  huge  rock,  was  foaming  and 
bubbling  along.  Immense  walls,  columns,  and  in  some  places 
what  appeared  to  be  arches,  were  seen  standing,  modelle.l  by 


THE   BUFFALO.  399 

the  wear  of  the  water,  undoubtedly,  yet  so  perfect  in  form 
that  we  could  with  difficulty  be  brought  to  believe  that  the 
hand  of  man  had  not  fashioned  them.  The  rains  of  centuries, 
falling  upon  an  immense  prairie,  had  here  formed  a  reservoir, 
and  their  workings  upon  the  different  veins  of  earth  and  stone 
had  formed  these  strange  and  fanciful  shapes. 

Before  reaching  the  chasm  we  had  crossed  numerous  large 
trails,  leading  a  little  more  to  the  west  than  we  were  travel- 
ling ;  and  the  experience  of  the  previous  day  had  led  us  to 
suppose  that  they  all  terminated  at  a  common  crossing  near 
by.  In  this  conjecture  we  were  not  disappointed,  for  a  trot 
of  half  an  hour  brought  us  into  a  large  road,  the  thoroughfare 
along  which  millions  of  Indians,  buffalos  and  mustangs  had 
evidently  travelled  for  years.  Perilous  as  the  descent 
appeared,  we  well  knew  that  there  was  no  other  near.  The 
leading  mule  was  again  urged  forward,  the  steadier  and  older 
horses  were  next  driven  over  the  sides,  and  the  more  skittish 
and  intractable  brought  up  the  rear.  Once  in  the  narrow 
path,  which  led  circuitously  down  the  descent,  there  was  no 
turning  back,  and  our  half-maddened  animals  finally  reached 
the  bottom  in  safety.  Several  large  stones  were  loosened 
from  their  fastenings  by  our  men,  during  this  frightful 
descent ;  these  would  leap,  dash  and  thunder  down  the 
precipitous  sides,  and  strike  against  the  bottom  far  below 
us  with  a  terrific  and  reverberating  crash. 

We  found  a  running  stream  on  reaching  the  lower  level  of 
the  chasm,  on  the  opposite  side  of  which  was  a  romantic  dell, 
covered  with  short  grass  and  a  few  scattered  cotton-woods. 
A  large  party  of  Indians  had  encamped  on  this  very  spot  but 
a  few  days  previous,  the  wilted  limbs  of  the  trees  and  other 
"signs,"  showing  that  they  had  made  it  a  resting-place. 
We,  too,  halted  a  couple  of  hours  to  give  our  horses  an 
opportunity  to  graze  and  rest  themselves.  The  trail,  which 
led  up  on  the  opposite  side,  was  discovered  a  short  distance 


WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

above  us,  to  the  south,  winding  up  the  steep  and  rugged 
sides  of  the  acclivity. 

As  we  journeyed  along  this  dell  all  were  again  struck  with 
admiration  at  the  strange  and  fanciful  figures  made  by  the 
washing  of  the  waters  during  the  rainy  season.  In  some 
places  perfect  walls,  formed  of  reddish  clay,  were  seen 
standing,  and  were  they  any  where  else,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  believe  that  other  than  the  hand  of  man 

formed  them.     The  veins  of  which  these  walls  were   com- 
\ 

posed  were  of  even  thickness,  very  hard,  and  ran  perpen 
dicularly;  and  when  the  softer  sand  which  had  surrounded 
them  was  washed  away,  the  veins  still  remained  standing 
upright,  in  some  places  a  hundred  feet  high,  and  three  or 
four  hundred  in  length.  Columns,  too,  were  there,  and  such 
was  their  appearance  or  architectural  order,  and  so  much 
of  chaste  grandeur  was  there  about  them,  that  we  were  lost 
in  wonder  and  admiration.  Sometimes  the  breastworks,  as 
of  forts,  would  be  plainly  visible;  then  again  the  frowning 
turrets  of  some  castle  of  the  olden  time.  Cumbrous  pillars 
of  some  mighty  pile,  such  as  is  dedicated  to  religion  or 
royalty,  were  scattered  about;  regularity  was  strangely 
mingled  with  disorder  and  ruin,  and  Nature  had  done  it  all. 
Niagara  has  been  considered  one  of  her  wildest  freaks,  but 
Niagara  sinks  into  insignificance  when  compared  with  the 
wild  grandeur  of  this  awful  chasm — this  deep,  abyssmal 
solitude,  as  Carlyle  would  call  it.  Imagination  carried  us 
back  to  Thebes,  to  Palmyra,  and  to  ancient  Athens,  and 
we  could  not  help  thinking  that  we  were  now  among  their 
ruins. 

Our  passage  out  of  this  place  was  effected  with  the  greatest 
difficulty.  We  were  obliged  to  carry  our  rifles,  holsters,  and 
saddlebags  in  our  hands,  and  in  clambering  up  a  steep  pitch, 
one  of  the  horses,  striking  his  shoulders  against  a  projecting 
rock,  was  precipitated  some  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  directly 


THE   BUFFALO.  401 

npon  his  back.  All  thought  he  must  be  killed  by  the  fall ; 
but,  strangely  enough,  he  rose  immediately,  shook  himself, 
and  a  second  effort  in  climbing  proved  more  successful — the 
animal  had  not  received  the  slightest  injury  ! 

By  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  we  were  all  safely  across, 
after  passing  some  five  or  six  hours  completely  shut  out  from 
the  world.  Again  we  found  ourselves  upon  the  level  prairie, 
and  in  looking  back,  after  proceeding  some  hundred  yards, 
not  a  sign  of  the  immense  chasm  was  visible.  The  plain  we 
were  then  upon  was  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in 
width,  and  the  two  chasms  I  have  mentioned  were  the  reser- 
voirs of  the  heavy  body  of  rain  which  falls  during  the  wet 
season,  and  at  the  same  time  its  conductors  to  the  running 
streams.  The  prairie  is  undoubtedly  the  largest  in  the  world, 
and  the  canons  are  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  size  of  the 
prairie.  Whether  the  waters  which  run  into  them  sink  into 
them,  or  find  their  way  to  the  Canadian,  is  a  matter  of 
uncertainty — but  I  am  inclined  to  believe  the  latter  is  the 
case. 

This  description  is  accurate  as  the  language  is  striking — no 
language,  indeed,  can  fully  convey  the  sudden  appal  with  which 
this  gaping  waste  of  piled  and  torn  immensity  fills  one  coming 
upon  it  for  the  first  time.  It  forms  a  stern  and  most  charac- 
teristic feature  of  these  dreary  steppes,  that  climb  through 
thousands  of  miles  by  imperceptible  slopes  towards  the  white 
soaring  crests  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  chain. 

The  buffalo  trails  leading  from  every  conceivable  direction 
to  centre  at  the  far  separated  crossing  places,  are,  most 
probably,  as  old  as  the  face  of  the  continent,  and  are 
frequently  themselves  worn  into  deep  and  impracticable 
gullies,  as  you  approach  the  point  of  convergence,  by  the 
tramp  of  myriad  hoofs  through  unrecorded  centuries. 

Nothing  more  strongly  indicates  the  fatuitous  recklessness1 
of  the  Indian  tribes,  whose  sole  dependence  is  upon  this 
animal,  than  the  constant  recurrence  of  such  wanton  and 

26 


402  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

wholesale  massacres  as  this  of  which  we  give  an  illustration. 
Although  the  buffalo,  for  causes  at  which  I  have  hinted,  are 
yearly  becoming  less  accessible  to  them — whether  their  num- 
bers be  so  appreciably  diminished  in  reality  or  not,  yet  they 
persist,  as  of  old,  whenever  they  can  come  upon  a  herd, 
however  immense,  feeding  in  such  relative  position  to  ono 
of  these  rifts  as  to  offer  the  inducement  of  possible  success, 
in  urging  the  panic-stricken  masses  over  the  sudden  abyss, 
where,  bounding  from  rough  point  to  point — down  !  down  ! — 
their  great  bodies  are  piled  in  a  huge  hecatomb  of  blackened, 
writhing,  sweltering  slaughter,  such  as  could  rejoice  only 
these  Red  Demons  of  destruction. 

Next  to  this,  in  wholesale  wantonness,  among  the  methods 
of  hunting  buffalo  peculiar  to  their  Indian  foes,  is  the 
"Prairie  Surround."  The  widely  scattered  line  of  the 
Surround,  enclosing  some  valley  containing  a  herd,  is 
rapidly  closed  up  by  the  yelling  warriors  composing  it, 
who  drive  the  frightened  animals  from  its  circumference, 
urging  towards  a  centre,  where,  precipitated  in  the  headlong 
crush  upon  each  other,  the  helpless  mass  sways,  bellowing — 
while  amidst  the  dust-clouds  of  their  collision,  the  forms  of 
the  warriors,  who  have  leaped  from  their  horses  upon  the 
backs  of  the  buffalo,  may  be  dimly  seen  treading  the  horned 
tumult  with  fierce  gestures,  and  wielding  the  long  lance  as 
a  rope  dancer  docs  his  balance  pole,  with  the  slight  difference, 
that  with  nearly  every  step  they  thrust  its  sharp  point  down 
through  joint  and  marrow,  between  the  spine  and  skull  of 
some  new  victim,  whose  shaggy  back  they  have  but  pressed 
in  passing  with  their  moccasined  feet.  Thousands  are  thus 
slaughtered  in  a  few  moments. 

This  scene,  as  weird  and  wild  as  it  is  real,  tames,  by 
contrast,  all  midnight  phantasmagoria  beneath  the  blaze  of 
the  noon-tide. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

PANTHERS,    AND    OUR    OTHER    FELINES. 

IN  preceding  articles  I  protested  against  any  wholesale 
denunciation  of  the  native  wild  beasts  of  our  continent  as 
naturally  cowards.  It  sounds  like  a  sort  of  imputation  upon 
our  soil,  that  it  is  not  strong  enough  to  have  grown  even 
wild  cats,  panthers,  bears,  etc.,  with  the  full  instincts  of 
destructiveness  peculiar  to  their  species  elsewhere. 

Mr.  Audubon  and  Dr.  Bachman,  the  editors  of  the  new 
work  on  the  Viviparous  Quadrupeds  of  North  America, 
entirely  discredit  what  they  call  "the  stories"  of  its  boldness 
ia  attacking  larger  animals,  men  or  even  children.  I  agree 

403 


404  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

that  caution  is  a  highly  commendable  trait  in  the  character 
of  the  Naturalist,  but  it  may  carry  him  into  absurdities,  too. 
What  is  here  asserted  may  be  true  enough  of  such  poor 
persecuted  feeble  specimens  of  these  animals  as  may  be 
met  with  occasionally,  lurking  still  about  the  borders  of 
swamps  in  the  old  States,  and  even  at  no  great  distance  from 
some  of  our  southern  cities — but  that  the  wild  cat  did,  and 
does  still,  in  remote  localities,  and  during  the  rutting  season, 
attack  grown  up  men  with  a  prompt  and  formidable  fierceness, 
there  is  abundant  evidence. 

I  have  spoken  fully  of  that  salutary  effect  which  the  terror 
of  our  formidable  rifle  has  gradually  impressed  upon  such 
creatures  in  the  progress  of  our  civilization — but  the  frontier 
settlements  furnish  many  indubitable  instances  of  their  natural 
ferocity.  Indeed,  I  have  myself  heard  from  the  venerable 
lips  of  some  of  the  honored  compeers  of  Boone,  in  the  settle- 
ment of  Kentucky,  relations  of  personal  encounters  held  by 
themselves  on  unexpected  meetings  with  creatures  of  this 
feline  family,  for  which  they  were  unprepared,  and  from 
which  they  necessarily  came  off  terribly  mutilated. 

I  remember  particularly  one  instance  in  which  the  wild 
cat  was  met  by  the  narrator  in  the  narrow  path  which  led 
from  his  cabin  to  the  spring.  The  hardy  hunter,  though  he 
had  no  weapon  upon  him  but  a  common  belt  or  sheath-knife 
which  he  always  carried,  met  his  assailant  with  that,  and 
although  he  was  fearfully  wounded  in  the  struggle,  and 
would,  undoubtedly,  have  had  his  bowels  torn  out,  but  for 
the  partial  protection  which  his  stout  buck-skin  dress  afforded 
him,  yet  he  succeeded  in  despatching  it  with  this  small 
weapon. 

The  venerable  soldier,  who,  by  the  way,  is  the  ancestor 
of  a  very  large  and  respectable  family  in  Kentucky,  showed 
me  the  plain  scar  of  wounds  from  its  claws  and  teeth  upon 
his  person.  All  corroborative  circumstances  which  family 
reminiscences  and  tho  character  of  the  man  furnished,  left 


PANTHERS,  AND  OUR  OTHER  CATS.         405 

one  no  hook  to  hang  a  doubt  upon  in  this  case,  and  left  me 
more  inclined  to  believe  the  many  anecdotes  of  the  same 
kind,  which  are  as  familiar  to  us  of  the  southwest  as  house- 
hold words. 

Nor  are  such  relations  to  be  thus  summarily  disposed  of, 
as  old  wives'  tales ;  the  hearsay  and  hap-hazard  gossip  of  the 
borders,  for  they  are  sound,  substantial  realities — just  as 
much  historical  truths  of  those  times  as  the  battle  of  the 
Horse  Shoe,  of  the  River  Raisin,  or  of  the  Blue  Licks,  or 
any  other  collision  that  might  be  named  between  the  white 
race  and  a  foe  quite  as  savage  as  even  I  can  suppose  the 
most  ferocious  of  these  animals  to  have  been,  and  like  them 
rapidly  disappearing  before  our  coming. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  the  port  of  the  civilized 
man,  even  without  the  adventitious  aid  of  the  fearful  engines 
he  wields,  is  in  itself  sufficient,  when  he  chooses  to  assert 
his  God-like  supremacy  upon  a  physical  world,  to  overawe 
and  subdue  the  most  untameable  brutes ;  utterly  changing 
their  relations  to  himself,  by  the  majesty  of  his  presence 
and  his  will ! 

The  Editors  of  the  Quadrupeds  of  America  give,  in  a 
short  anecdote,  an  illustration  to  the  point : 

During  a  botanical  excursion  to  the  Edista  river,  our 
attention  was  attracted  by  the  barking  of  a  small  terrier  at 
the  foot  of  a  tree.  On  looking  up,  we  observed  a  wild  cat, 
about  twenty  feet  from  the  ground,  and  at  least  three  times 
the  size  of  the  dog,  of  whom  he  did  not  appear  to  be  much 
afraid.  He  seemed  to  have  a  greater  dread  of  man,  however, 
than  of  this  diminutive  specimen  of  the  canine  race,  and 
leaped  from  the  tree  when  we  drew  near ! 

Yet  with  all  the  timidity  this  anecdote  is  intended  to 
illustrate,  the  wild  cat,  from  its  desperate  fighting  and 
cunning,  affords  a  very  exciting  sport  to  the  hunter.  When 
overtaken  by  the  dogs,  several  of  them  are  frequently  killed 
by  it,  and  Mr.  Audubon  gives  some  instances  of  its  subtlety 


406  WILD    SCENES    AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

in  eluding  pursuit,  which  would  do  credit  to  Reynard  himself. 
One  of  them  is,  that  he  makes  for  some  half  dried  swamp 
or  pond,  and  runs  into  the  most  sticky  clay,  seeming  to  be 
aware  that  the  stockings  with  which  his  legs  would  be 
defended  when  he  came  out,  would  prevent  the  scent  being 
deposited  from  his  feet,  and  dull  the  trail !  A  shrewd 
conjecture  that !  but  not,  as  I  think,  particularly  plausible, 
for  in  a  few  bounds  the  mire  would  be  rubbed  off  the  soles  of 
his  feet,  from  which  alone  the  scent  is  emitted,  and  leave  him 
badly  off  as  ever.  I  have  described  the  cunning  strategy  of 
this  creature,  in  the  Night  Hunt  of  an  earlier  chapter. 

But  I  know  hundreds  of  well  authenticated  instances  in 
which  the  cougar  or  panther  attacked  the  early  hunters — 
springing  upon  them  as  readily  from  ambush,  as  they  would 
have  done  upon  a  deer. 

I  should  not  feel  authorized  to  mention  at  second-hand 
any  incident  of  the  many  I  could  command,  as  entitle^  to 
stand  among  the  facts  of  natural  history,  but  that  in  my 
own  personal  experience  I  have  so  frequently  witnessed  such, 
that  I  am  compelled  to  allow  some  of  these  a  weight  propor- 
tioned to  their  authority. 

In  an  excursion  towards  the  Rocky  Mountains,  I  have 
met  all  our  most  formidable  animals  under  the  most  varied 
circumstances  of  sudden  collision.  On  this  expedition  we 
saw  several  skins  and  two  specimens  in  the  flesh  of  the  puma, 
which  is  yet  unrecognized  by  any  American  Naturalist.  It 
is  evidently  a  transitional  genus,  partaking  of  the  charac- 
ters of  both  the  lion  and  the  cougar.  It  has  clearly  the 
rudimental  mane  and  tufted  tail,  which  characterizes  the 
former,  while  its  habits  approximate  those  of  the  latter. 

I  once,  while  hunting  around  a  camp  on  one  of  the  head 
streams  of  the  Red  River,  encountered  a  puma,  in  a  manner 
much  resembling  the  instance  of  the  wild  cat  trivcn  above. 

o  o 

I  had  gone  out  in  the  early  morning  to  hunt,  with  a  comrade, 
and  we  were  carelessly  walking  through  the  thick  woods  in 


PANTHERS,  AND  OUR  OTHER  CATS.         407 

Indian  file,  when  I,  who  was  behind,  suddenly  observed  a 
creature,  which  I  supposed  to  be  a  panther,  in  the  act 
of  springing  from  the  low  limb  of  a  bending  tree  on  my 
companion — who  was  a  few  feet  in  advance  of  me.  I  shouted 
in  warning  to  him,  when  he  sprang  forward,  and  I  fired. 
The  ball  struck  the  creature  "on  the  leap"  just  between 
the  eyes,  and  it  fell  at  my  feet.  The  eyes  were  burst  from 
the  sockets,  and  its  yells  and  dying  struggles  were  terrific. 
On  firing  another  load  into  it,  these  struggles  ceased. 

After  our  surprise  had  subsided,  I  examined  it  coolly,  and 
found  it  to  be  entirely  distinct  from  the  cougar,  both  in  size, 
which  I  am  convinced  was  considerably  greater,  (I  took  no 
measurement,)  and  color,  which  instead  of  tawny,  was  a  light 
roan,  or  mingled  red  and  dull  white.  Then  the  head  was  of 
greater  size  in  proportion  to  the  body,  and  the  rudiments  of 
a  mane  and  tufted  tail  were  sufficiently  distinctive.  I  regret 
that  I  was  not  more  careful  at  the  time,  for  my  measurement 
might  have  substantiated  a  new  species. 

A  hunter  attached  to  Sir  William  Drummond  Stewart's 
Expeditions,  was  assailed  by  a  Puma  leaping  down  upon  him 
from  off  the  face  of  a  bluff,  as  he  rode  beneath.  He  was 
walking  his  horse  slowly,  when  his  attention  was  aroused  by 
the  rolling  down  of  a  pebble  or  some  fragment  of  rock. 
Looking  up  quickly,  the  terrible  brute  was  crouching  above 
him,  with  ears  laid  back  close  upon  its  head,  and  he  saw 
the  wavy  stir  of  the  tail  in  the  grass,  and  brambles  above. 
To  whip  out  his  holster  was  the  act  of  an  instant,  and  he 
fired  into  its  face,  as  the  yellow  glare  of  those  eyes  was 
almost  against  his  own  in  the  descent  of  its  leap.  He  was 
considerably  torn  by  its  claws  in  the  death-struggle,  but 
the  heavy  ball  of  his  holster  had  crushed  its  skull  to  pieces. 

Mr.  Miller  afterwards  made  a  sketch  of  the  scene  of 
this  occurrence  on  the  spot,  and  it  is  given  at  the  head  of 
this  chapter. 

But  what  is  more  in  point,  we  saw  several  skins  of  these 


408  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

creatures,  which  had  been  killed  near  San  Antonio  de  Bexar, 
in  Texas,  which  is  a  very  old  Spanish  town;  yet,  on  the 
most  careful  inquiry,  we  learned  from  the  hunters,  that  they 
were  quite  as  cowardly,  and  averse  to  attacking  man  as  the 
cougars,  which  yet  linger  in  the  swamps  of  the  Mississippi, 
the  pine  woods  of  the  Carolinas,  or  along  the  course  of 
our  Western  rivers,  are  known  to  be. 

The  secret  of  this  is,  that  the  creatures  we  met  on  the 
remote  waters  of  the  Red  River,  where  the  hunter's  rifle 
had  probably  been  never  heard,  were  in  fact  living  in  entire 
unconsciousness  of  its  formidable  prognostics  and  accompani- 
ments. 

I  had  also  an  adventure  once  with  the  oceolet,  which  fully 
illustrates  the  progress  this  sort  of  intimidation  has  made  in 
altering  our  relations  to  such  creatures. 

The  occolct — which  is,  next  to  the  common  house  cat,  the 
base  of  the  felines,  and  has  always  been  set  down  in  old 
books  of  natural  history  as,  in  proportion  to  its  size,  one 
of  the  most  incorrigibly  fierce  of  its  tribe,  and  which  may 
still  with  truth  be  called  the  most  untameable,  as  it  is  the 
most  beautiful  of  all — yet  showed  itself  to  be  even  more 
timid  than  I,  in  a  sudden  rencontre  ! 

I  was  hunting  with  a  friend  near  his  ranche,  on  the  San 
Antonio  river,  one  morning.  The  two  untrained  dogs  which 
accompanied  us  soon  ran  off  far  enough  ahead  doAvn  the 
course  of  the  heavily  timbered  river  bottom.  We  were 
walking  through  a  field  which  had  been  opened  into  the 
timber,  and  which  being  now  uncultivated,  was  fringed  by 
a  thick  briar-path.  As  we  approached  this,  some  creature 
sprang  up  from  its  outer  edge,  where  it  had  probably  been 
sunning  itself,  and  we  heard  it  rattling  away  into  the 
adjacent  forest,  which  at  this  place  was  below  where  we 
stood. 

On  looking  down  over  the  top  of  the  thicket,  we  saw  the 
beautifully  mottled  form  of  an  oceolet,  clinging  to  the  trunk 


PANTHERS,  AND  OUR  OTHER  CATS.         409 

of  a  large  cotton-wood  tree,  some  ten  feet  from  its  base,  with 
its  striped  face  turned  back  over  its  shoulders,  curiously 
regarding  us.  It  was  in  short  point  blank  range,  and  I 
immediately  fired.  It  dropped  out  of  view,  and  when  I 
forced  my  way  through  the  thicket  and  reached  the  foot 
of  the  tree,  it  had  disappeared.  There  was  a  large  hollow 
in  the  foot  of  the  tree,  into  which  we  supposed  the  creature 
had  fallen,  for  I  felt  sure  of  my  aim. 

On  looking  down,  I  saw  it  extended  along  the  bottom, 
apparently  dead.  I  was  anxious  to  obtain  its  skin,  and 
accordingly,  after  reloading  my  rifle,  I,  by  a  side-way 
movement,  pushed  my  arm,  shoulders  and  head  with  diffi- 
culty into  the  narrow  gap,  in  hope  that  I  should  be  able 
to  reach  and  draw  it  out.  My  head  had  scarcely  been 
introduced  before  a  pair  of  flaming  eyes  looked  up  into 
mine  from  the  darkness,  apparently  within  a  few  inches. 
I,  of  course,  struggled  out  as  quickly  as  possible,  under  the 
impression  that  the  creature  I  supposed  to  have  been  killed 
was  only  stunned.  I  put  the  muzzle  of  my  rifle  down  the 
hollow — and  fired,  as  I  thought,  directly  between  the  glowing 
eyes.  When  the  smoke  was  dissipated,  I  ventured  to  look 
in  again,  and  there  lay  the  same  creature,  as  I  supposed, 
stretched,  and  still  in  the  old  position. 

I  now  determined  on  a  second  trial  to  draw  it  out.  I  had 
forced  in — arms,  shoulders  and  head — so  far  as  they  would 
go,  when  suddenly  the  fiery  eyes  made  their  appearance 
again,  so  close  to  mine  that  they  seemed  almost  to  burn 
them !  I  scuffled  desperately  to  extricate  my  person,  for 
the  idea  of  a  pair  of  long  white  claws  stuck  into  my  phiz, 
was  not  the  most  pleasant  that  could  be  conceived.  I  was 
just  in  time;  for,  as  I  drew  my  face  out,  plump  against  it 
came  the  heavy  crush  of  soft  fur,  with  a  strong  body  behind 
it,  and  I  was  prostrated  on  my  back. 

I  was  roused  from  the  stun  and  fright  together,  by  the  loud 
guffaws  of  my  companion,  who  was  to;  much  convulsed  with 


410  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

laughter  to  be  able  to  shoot  the  cat,  which  we  saw  going  off 
through  the  woods  at  full  speed.  On  examination,  I  found 
the  roots  of  the  great  tree  had  been  hollowed  far  under 
and  beyond  the  line  of  vision,  and  concluded  that  the  shot 
into  the  hollow  had  missed  aim,  as  I  found  the  first  animal 
dead,  which  I  had  seen  lying  from  the  first.  We  now  called 
the  dogs,  which  soon  traced  the  fugitive  to  another  hollow 
tree,  from  which  we  smoked  it  down — as  is  the  practice  in 
taking  hares  when  they  are  "treed!" — and  shot  it  dead  as 
it  sprang  out.  "VVe  found  this  to  be  the  dam,  while  the  first 
was  a  cub  just  grown. 

It  is  a  somewhat  curious  commentary  upon  the  nature  of 
these  animals,  that  the  cub  was  found  to  have  been  so  badly 
torn  by  the  teeth  of  the  dam  as  to  render  its  skin  useless. 
I  suppose  its  falling  into  the  den  so  suddenly  and  unusually, 
was  the  cause  of  this  unnatural  act  on  the  part  of  the  mother, 
who  mistook  it  for  some  assailant.  I  have  no  doubt  I  should 
have  been  badly  mutilated  by  this  creature  had  the  incident 
occurred  any  where  but  in  this  neighborhood,  where  it  had 
been  thoroughly  initiated  into  the  terrors  of  gunpowder  and 
the  rifle. 

The  genus  Lynx  is  very  celebrated  in  those  classic  and 
European  legends,  which,  under  the  name  of  facts,  have 
come  down  to  us  as  Natural  History.  The  metaphor  in 
which  a  "  Lynx's  eye"  is  represented  as  being  able  to  pierce 
through  stone  walls,  is  familiar  to  our  childhood.  From  very 
ancient  times,  it  has  been  known  through  curious  and  various 
associations.  It  is  a  sort  of  anomaly — neither  canine  or 
feline,  strictly,  but  holding  an  intermediate  position  both 
in  grade  and  notoriety.  Though  it  has  been  much  identified 
with  the  old  world  progress  and  story,  yet  it  is  even  more 
intimately  connected  with  the  associations  of  the  new  world 
pioneer  life.  With  us,  north  or  south,  every  body  has  heard 
of  the  Lynx  rufus,  (or  common  wild  cat,)  even  though  some 
may  have  identified  it  with  the  Canada  Lynx,  and  others, 


PAXTHEHS,  AND  OUR  OTHER  CATS.         411 

puzzled  by  its  varied  marking  and  size,  may  have  called  it 
by  sundry  names,  such  as  catamount,  etc.  In  truth,  even 
Naturalists  have  been  sadly  perplexed  with  regard  to  the 
true  place  of  this  genus,  and  we  should  not  "wonder  that 
the  common  people  of  all  countries  should  be  as  well.  It 
is  unquestionably  the  transition  species  from  the  more  defined 
genera,  felis  and  canis,  and  consequently,  as  a  sub-genus,  its 
definitions  have  become  more  involved.  In  the  dental  arrange- 
ment, there  is  only  the  slight  variation  from  that  of  the 
felines  of  one  molar  less  on  each  side  above ;  for  the  rest, 
they  have  shorter  bodies  in  proportion  to  the  length  of  the 
legs,  and  shorter  tails.  Their  resemblance  to  the  genus 
canis  (to  which  those  of  lupus  and  vulpes  are  sub-genera,) 
seems  to  be  less  defined.  They  approach  the  dogs,  not  by 
very  distinct  stages  of  transition,  through  both  these  sub- 
genera.  They  live  more  like  the  fox,  on  the  ground,  and 
approach  its  associations  more  in  choice  of  localities  and 
manner  of  taking  its  prey.  It  resembles  the  dog  in  its 
fieetness,  and  more  particularly  in  its  acute  sense  of  smtll, 
which  no  doubt  gave  rise  to  the  legend  about  its  being  able 
to  see  through  a  stone  wall — the  acuteness  of  one  sense 
being  vulgarly  substituted  for  that  of  another.  But  the  true 
physical  characteristic,  which  distinguishes  this  from  all  the 
other  genera,  is  the  tuft  or  pencil  of  hair  which  appears, 
when  they  are  in  full  pelage,  on  the  points  of  their  ears. 
This  is  the  most  prominent  character  of  the  genus,  which  I 
have  left  to  be  considered  last,  because  it  varies  so  much 
with  the  shedding  time  and  seasons,  that  it  has  been  the 
most  fruitful  source  of  confusion  in  classifying  the  animal, 
At  one  time  it  is  long,  and  at  another  scarcely  visible— 
hence  careless  observers  have  insisted  upon  a  most  com- 
plicated subdivision  of  the  genus. 

Certainly  this  difficulty  has  quite  naturally  been  increased, 
by  the  extraordinary  variations  in  markings  or  color,  which 
are  peculiar  to  the  Lynx  rvfus ;  although  the  Canada  lynx 


412  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

is  more  *  strictly  defined.  Rafenesque  even  confounded  it 
into  fifteen  varieties ;  and  when  a  Naturalist  is  led  into  such 
errors,  it  is  not  astonishing  that  the  popular  judgment  should 
make  mistakes.  Indeed,  I  myself  for  a  long  time  held  the 
opinion,  based  not  only  on  the  varied  size,  markings,  length 
of  tail  and  ear-tufts,  of  the  specimens  which  I  had  either 
killed,  or  seen  others  kill,  hut  as  well  upon  a  patient  survey 
of  thousands  of  skins  at  the  fur  warehouses  in  St.  Louis — 
that  the  catamount,  or  common  wild  cat,  was  a  cross  upon 
the  oceolet  and  Canada  lynx.  The  oceolet  is  a  true  feline. 
Indeed,  all  these  singular  variations  have  had  their  effect  on 
me,  for  I  had  seen  the  tail  from  one  inch  to  four,  and  the 
pelage  not  alone  faintly  banded,  but  mottled,  through  such 
regular  transitions,  from  plain  olive  brown  to  distinct  mark- 
ings, and  then  to  the  very  peculiar  black  and  unmistakable 
rosette,  which  belongs  to  the  pelage  of  the  oceolet,  that  I 
could  not  help  thinking  that  the  Canada  lynx  and  the  oceolet 
may  have  perpetuated  a  middle  species,  partaking,  as  well  in 
habits  as  in  markings,  the  characteristics  of  the  two.  The 
authors  of  the  Quadrupeds  of  America,  however,  take  a  different 
view  of  the  subject.  They  certainly  bring  up  many  formidable 
instances  to  show  that  they  are  right ;  and  until  I  have  spent 
as  many  years  as  they  have  in  personal  dedication  to  such 
investigations,  I  shall  fully  accept  their  nomenclature.  They 
remark,  in  general  terms,  concerning  the  "pelage:" 

There  arc,  however,  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  even  in 
the  same  neighborhood,  strongly  marked  varieties,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  find  two  individuals  precisely  alike. 

Some  specimens  are  broadly  marked  with  fulvus  under 
the  throat,  whilst  in  others  the  throat  as  well  as  the  chin  is 
gray.  In  some,  the  stripes  on  the  back  and  spots  along 
the  sides  arc  very  distinctly  seen,  whilst  in  others  they  arc 
fccarcely  visible,  and  the  animal  is  grayish-brown  above,  with 
a  dark  dorsal  stripe. 

There  are  six  species  of  lynx  known  to  the  old  world,  and, 


PANTHERS,  AND  OUR  OTHER  CATS.         413 

as  they  say,  only  two  to  North  America!  I  am  surely  right 
with  regard  to  the  old  world,  but  whether  they  are,  upon  this 
knotty  point,  right  as  to  this,  we  will  leave  for  future  investi- 
gation to  determine.  Be  scientific  truth  on  which  side  of  the 
controversy  it  may,  the  animal  itself  is  a  very  interesting 
one,  and  intimately  associated  with  the  legend  and  character, 
not  only  of  the  pioneers,  but  of  the  older  population  of  our 
wide  country,  for  it  is  found  every  where,  from  the  middle 
to  the  extreme  southern  and  southwestern  limits  of  settlement. 
The  Canada  lynx,  which  is  so  frequently  identified  with  it, 
extends  from  the  mountains  of  Pennsylvania  to  the  northern 
districts  of  Canada.  With  regard  to  the  habits  of  the  Lynx 
rufus,  the  authors  of  the  Quadrupeds  of  America  say : 

The  general  appearance  of  this  species  conveys  the  idea 
of  a  degree  of  ferocity,  which  cannot  with  propriety  be  con- 
sidered as  belonging  to  its  character,  although  it  will,  when 
at  bay,  show  its  sharp  teeth,  and  with  outstretched  claws  and 
infuriated  despair,  repel  the  attacks  of  either  man  or  dog, 
sputtering  the  while  and  rolling  its  eyes  like  the  common  cat. 
It  is,  however,  generally  cowardly  when  attacked,  and  always 
flies  from  its  pursuers  if  it  can ;  and  although  some  anecdotes 
have  been  related  to  us  of  the  strength,  daring  and  fierceness 
of  the  animal,  such  as  its  having  been  known  to  kill,  at 
different  times,  a  sheep,  a  full  grown  doe,  attack  a  child  in 
the  woods,  etc.,  yet  in  all  the  instances  that  have  come 
under  our  own  notice,  we  have  found  it  very  timid,  and 
always  rather  inclined  to  beat  a  retreat,  than  to  make  an 
attack  on  an  animal  larger  than  a  hare  or  young  pig. 

Dr.  Bachman,  Associate  Editor  of  the  Quadrupeds  of 
America,  describes  with  some  minuteness  and  reality  the  most 
common  mode  of  hunting  the  wild  cat  by  daylight,  when 
undertaken  in  set  fashion  by  the  southern  gentry,  with  all  the 
appliances  of  "hound  and  horn,"  etc.;  but  his  chase  is  wound 
up  by  the  shooting  of  the  exhausted  animal  by  some  one  of 
the  huntsmen. 


WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS, 

In  a  southern  foxchase  there  can  be  nothing  more  unortho- 
dox than  such  an  expenditure  of  ammunition,  for  the  hunters 
would  have  been  somewhat  dangerously  furious,  and  the 
hounds  themselves  ready  to  tear  in  pieces  the  unlucky  marks- 
man who  should  have  dared  to  interpose  between  their  heated 
ferocity  and  a  legitimate  consummation  of  the  chase,  in  "  the 
death !"  The  wild  cat  injures  the  dogs,  though,  so  much, 
that  after  losing  a  few  of  the  most  valued  leaders  of  the 
pack  in  the  bloody  death-struggle  with  this  savagely  formi- 
dable creature,  the  huntsmen  soon  learn  to  differ  from  our 
friend  Dr.  Bachman's  opinion  concerning  its  courage,  and 
become  very  cautious  how  they  run  the  risk  of  having  their 
dogs  overtake  it.  They  easily  tell,  from  the  cry  of  the 
hounds,  when  it  is  becoming  exhausted,  and  has  reached  its 
short  doublings ;  and,  as  by  this  time  they  have  enjoyed  the 
excitement  of  a  long  chase,  they  can  very  well  afford  to  listen 
to  the  dictates  of  prudence  in  shooting  it,  as  described  above. 

The  dogs  used  in  a  night  hunt  are  not  the  full-blooded 
hounds  of  the  chase  above.  A  cross  of  the  fox  or  stag-hound 
upon  the  fiercer,  snapping,  wire-haired  cur,  which  seems  to 
be  peculiarly  the  dog  of  the  negro,  makes  a  far  more  swift, 
though  not  so  long-winded  or  so  sure  a  hunter;  and,  from  its 
strength  and  activity,  is  considered  a  much  better  fighter 
than  the  aristocratic  hound,  which  is  owned  solely  by  the 
master.  Indeed,  the  half-breeds  of  this  and  various  other 
crosses  are  almost  exclusively  used  for  the  chase  and  destruc- 
tion of  the  carnivorous  animals  throughout  this  country — the 
game  "full-bloods,"  which,  when  heated  by  their  long  chases, 
habitually  rush  in,  closing  instantly  with  their  quarry,  when 
it  has  been  brought  to  bay,  suffer  terribly  when  it  turns  out 
to  be  wild  cat,  panther  or  bear ;  and,  if  permitted  to  chase 
these  animals,  the  pack  is  soon  exterminated  by  them. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  the  instant  change  in  the  appear- 
ance of  all  dogs  used  in  the  chase,  on  striking  the  trail  of 
any  one  of  these  animals,  but  more  especially  that  of  the 


PANTHERS,  AND  OUR  OTHER  CATS.         415 

wild  cat  or  panther.  The  hair  "roughs,"  as  the  hunters 
term  it,  that  is,  stands  on  end '  over  the  back  and  tail ;  and 
their  cry  becomes  a  sort  of  eager  growl.  The  drivers 
understand  these  signs  well,  and  when  beating  for  deer  or 
fox  they  immediately  call  the  dogs  off  the  dangerous  scent. 

As  a  hunter,  the  bay  lynx  exhibits  a  good  deal  of  cunning 
and  sagacity — quite  as  much,  it  would  appear,  as  Reynard 
himself.  Dr.  Bachman  gives  some  curious  relations  upon 
this  head.  One  incident,  which  occurred  at  the  plantation 
of  Dr.  Desel,  in  South  Carolina,  is  worth  giving.  It  seems 
that  "  the  drove  of  geese  were  nightly  lodged  near  the 
house  in  an  enclosure  which  was  rendered  apparently  safe 
by  a  very  high  fence.  As  an  additional  security,  several 
watch  dogs  were  let  loose  about  the  premises;  besides,  an 
excellent  pack  of  hounds,  which,  by  an  occasional  bark  or 
howl  during  the  night,  sounded  the  alarm  in  case  any 
marauder,  whether  biped  or  quadruped,  approached.  Not- 
withstanding these  precautions,  a  goose  disappeared  almost 
every  night,  and  no  trace  of  the  ingress  or  egress  of  the 
robber  could  be  discovered.  Slow  in  attaching  suspicion  to 
to  his  servants,  the  Doctor  waited  for  time  and  watchfulness 
to  solve  the  mystery.  At  length,  the  feathers  and  other 
remains  of  his  geese  were  discovered  in  a  marsh,  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  house,  and  strong  suspicion  was 
fastened  on  the  wild  cat !  Still,  as  he  came  at  odd  hours 
of  the  night,  all  attempts  to  kill  or  shoot  him  proved,  for  a 
time,  unavailing.  One  morning,  however,  he  came  about 
daylight,  and  having  captured  a  good  fat  goose,  was  traced 
by  the  keen  noses  of  the  hounds." 

The  hounds  tracked  him  up,  and  he  was  finally  shot ;  but 
his  subtle  in-goings  and  out-comings  sound  to  us  very  like 
the  German  stories  of  the  witch  or  weir-wolf.  It  was  surely 
ticklish  walking,  though  his  toes  be  padded,  for  the  wary 
plunderer  amid  so  many  foes.  But  his  astuteness  and 
dexterity  are  quite  as  remarkable  in  those  wild  wood  forays, 


416  WILD   SCENES   AND  WILD   HUNTEKS. 

which  the  editors  of  the  "  Quadrupeds"  have  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  witnessing.  Such  -examples  are  confirmed  by  my 
own  experience. 

When  this  animal  discovers  a  flock  of  wild  turkeys,  he 
•will  generally  follow  them  at  a  little  distance  for  some  time, 
and  after  having  ascertained  the  direction  in  which  they 
are  proceeding,  make  a  rapid  detour,  and  concealing  himself 
behind  a  fallen  tree,  or  in  the  lower  branches  of  some  leafy 
maple,  patiently  wait  in  ambush  until  the  birds  approach, 
when  he  suddenly  springs  on  one  of  them,  if  near  enough, 
and  with  one  bound  secures  it.  We  once,  while  resting  on  a 
log  in  the  woods,  on  the  banks  of  the  Wabash  river,  perceived 
two  wild  turkey-cocks  at  some  distance  below  us,  under 
the  bank  near  the  water,  pluming  and  picking  their  feathers ; 
on  a  sudden  one  of  them  fled  across  the  river,  and  the  other 
we  saw  struggling  in  the  grasp  of  a  wild  cat,  which  almost 
instantly  dragged  it  up  the  bank  into  the  woods  and  made 
off.  On  another  occasion,  we  observed  an  individual  of  this 
species  almost  nine  miles  from  Charleston,  in  pursuit  of  a 
covey -of  partridges — (Ortyx  Virginiana^ — so  intent  was 
the  cat  upon  its  prey,  that  it  passed  within  ten  steps  of  us, 
as  it  was  making  a  circle  to  get  in  advance,  and  in  the  path 
of  the  birds ;  its  eyes  were  constantly  fixed  on  the  covey, 
and  it  stealthily  concealed  itself  behind  a  log  it  expected 
the  birds  to  pass.  In  a  second  attempt,  the  marauder 
succeeded  in  capturing  one  of  the  partridges,  when  the  rest, 
in  great  affright,  flew  and  scattered  in  all  directions. 

The  Canada  lynx  is  something  larger  than  the  bay  lynx, 
and  though  more  formidable-looking,  is  not  so  fierce,  bold,  or 
restless.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  be  quite  remarkable  for  a  shy 
timidity,  even  when  far  removed  from  the  neighborhood 
of  man.  It  is  not  mottled  as  the  bay  lynx,  but  is  gray 
above,  a  little  clouded  with  irregular  dark  spots,  and  lighter 
beneath.  It  is  well  protected  against  the  cold  of  its  northern 
home  by  its  long  fur.  It  is  very  dexterous  in  capturing  the 


PANTHERS,  AND  OUR  OTHER  CATS.         417 

grouse,  hares,  squirrels,  and  other  small  creatures,  which 
constitute  its  habitual  prey.  It  has  even  been  represented 
as  having  killed  a  deer — though  I  conjecture  it  must  have 
been  a  wounded  one.  It  is  true  there  is  less  known  of  its 
habits  than  of  those  of  the  southern  species;  but  on  the 
whole,  I  am  disposed  to  regard  it  as  a  less  enterprising,  and 
therefore  less  interesting  species. 

Indeed,  it  is  by  no  means  through  the  character  of  this 
gray  northern  animal,  that  the  wide-spread  notoriety  of  the 
wild  cat,  in  connection  with  border  life,  has  obtained  in  this 
country.  It  is  to  the  more  fierce,  predatory,  and  pugnacious 
temperament  of  its  tawny  and  mottled  brother  of  the  south, 
that  the  family  reputation  is  mainly  owing.  The  panther, 
(or  cougar,)  with  even  its  greater  size  and  more  formidable 
attributes,  is  not  more  entirely  identified  with  our  wildest 
legends,  scenes,  and  adventures,  than  is  this  bay  lynx. 

I  give,  in  conclusion,  a  characteristic  paper,  in  which  a 
Cougar  hunt  is  described  by  Mr.  Audubon.  This,  as  afford- 
ing an  additional  glimpse  of  the  adventurous  out-door  life  of 
the  great  Naturalist,  possesses  a  greater  interest  than  any 
relation  of  personal  adventure  I  could  give,  although  such 
are  abundant  enough.  He  says  : — 

There  is  an  extensive  Swamp  in  the  section  of  the  State 
of  Mississippi  which  lies  partly  in  the  Choctaw  territory.  It 
commences  at  the  borders  of  the  Mississippi,  at  no  great 
distance  from  a  Chickasaw  village,  situated  near  the  mouth 
of  a  creek  known  by  the  name  of  Vanconnah,  and  partly 
inundated  by  the  swellings  of  several  large  bayous,  the 
principal  of  which,  crossing  the  swamp  in  its  whole  extent, 
discharges  its  waters  not  far  from  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo 
River.  This  famous  bayou  is  called  False  River.  The 
swamp  of  which  I  am  speaking  follows  the  windings  of  the 
Yazoo,  until  the  latter  branches  off  to  the  north-east,  and  at 
this  point  forms  the  stream  named  Cold  Water  River,  below 
vrhich  the  Yazoo  receives  the  draining  of  another  bayou 

27 


418  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

inclining  towards  the  north-west,  and  intersecting  that  known 
by  the  name  of  False  River,  at  a  short  distance  from  the 
place  where  the  latter  receives  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi. 
This  tedious  account  of  the  situation  of  the  Swamp,  is  given 
with  the  view  of  pointing  it  out  to  all  students  of  nature  who 
may  chance  to  go  that  way,  and  whom  I  would  earnestly 
urge  to  visit  its  interior,  as  it  abounds  in  rare  and  interesting 
productions :  birds,  quadrupeds  and  reptiles,  as  well  as  mol- 
luscous animals,  many  of  which,  I  am  persuaded,  have  never 
been  described. 

In  the  course  of  one  of  my  rambles,  I  chanced  to  meet 
with  a  squatter's  cabin  on  the  banks  of  the  Cold  Water 
River.  In  the  owner  of  this  hut,  like  most  of  those  adven- 
turous settlers  in  the  uncultivated  tracts  of  our  frontier 
districts,  I  found  a  person  well  versed  in  the  chase,  and 
acquainted  with  the  habits  of  some  of  the  larger  species  of 
quadrupeds  and  birds.  As  he  who  is  desirous  of  instruction 
ought  not  to  disdain  listening  to  any  one,  who  has  knowledge 
to  communicate,  however  humble  may  be  his  lot,  or  however 
limited  his. talents,  I  entered  the  squatter's  cabin,  and  imme- 
diately opened  a  conversation  with  him  respecting  the  situation 
of  the  swamp,  and  its  natural  productions.  lie  told  me  he 
thought  it  the  very  place  I  ought  to  visit,  spoke  of  the  game 
which  it  contained,  and  pointed  to  some  bear  and  deer  skins, 
adding,  that  the  individuals  to  which  they  had  belonged, 
formed  but  a  small  portion  of  the  number  of  those  animals 
which  he  had  shot  within  it.  My  heart  swelled  with  delight ; 
and  on  asking  if  he  would  accompany  me  through  the  great 
morass,  and  allow  me  to  become  an  inmate  of  his  humble  but 
hospitable  mansion,  I  was  gratified  to  find  that  lie  cordially 
assented  to  all  my  proposals.  So  I  immediately  unstrapped 
my  drawing  materials,  laid  up  my  gun,  and  sat  down  to 
partake  of  the  homely  but  wholesome  faro  intended  for  tho 
Supper  of  the  squatter,  his  wife,  and  his  two  sons. 

The  quietness  of  the  evening  seemed  in  perfect  accordance 


PANTHERS,  AND  OUR  OTHER  CATS.         419 

with  the  gentle  demeanor  of  the  family.  The  wife  and  chil- 
dren, I  more  than  once  thought,  seemed  to  look  upon  me  as 
a  strange  sort  of  person,  going  about,  as  I  told  them  I  was, 
in  search  of  birds  and  plants ;  and  were  I  here  to  relate  tne 
many  questions  which  they  put  to  me  in  return  for  those 
which  I  addressed  to  them,  the  catalogue  would  occupy 
several  pages.  The  husband,  a  native  of  Connecticut,  had 
heard  of  the  existence  of  such  men  as  myself,  both  in  our 
own  country  and  abroad,  and  seemed  greatly  pleased  to  have 
me  under  his  roof.  Supper  over,  I  asked  my  kind  host  what 
had  induced  him  to  remove  to  this  wild  and  solitary  spot. 
"  The  people  are  too  numerous  now  to  thrive  in  New  Eng- 
land," was  his  answer.  I  thought  of  the  state  of  some  parts 
of  Europe,  arid  calculating  the  denseness  of  their  population 
compared  with  that  of  New  England,  exclaimed  to  myself, 
"  How  much  more  difficult  must  it  be  for  men  to  thrive  in 
those  populous  countries  1"  The  conversation  then  changed, 
and  the  squatter,  his  sons  and  myself,  spoke  of  hunting  and 
fishing,  until  at  length  tired,  we  laid  ourselves  down  on 
pallets  of  bear  skins,  and  reposed  in  peace  on  the  floor  of 
the  only  apartment  of  which  the  hut  consisted. 

Day  dawned,  and  the  squatter's  call  to  his  hogs,  which, 
being  almost  in  a  wild  state,  were  suffered  to  seek  the  greater 
portion  of  their  food  in  the  woods,  awakened  me.  Being 
ready  dressed,  I  was  not  long  in  joining  him.  The  hogs  and 
their  young  came  grunting  at  the  well  known  call  of  their 
owner,  who  threw  them  a  few  ears  of  corn,  and  counted  them, 
but  told  me  that  for  some  weeks  their  number  had  been 
greatly  diminished  by  the  ravages  committed  upon  them  by 
a  large  Panther,  by  which  name  the  cougar  is  designated 
in  America,  and  that  the  ravenous  animal  did  not  content 
himself  with  the  flesh  of  his  pigs,  but  now  and  then  carried 
off  one  of  his  calves,  notwithstanding  the  many  attempts  he 
had  made  to  shoot  it,  The  Painter,  as  he  sometimes  called 
it,  had  on  several  occasions  robbed  him  of  a  dead  deer ;  and 


420  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

to  these  exploits  the  squatter  added  several  remarkable  feats 
of  audacity  which  it  had  performed,  to  give  me  an  idea  of 
the  formidable  character  of  the  beast.  Delighted  by  his 
description,  I  offered  to  assist  him  in  destroying  the  enemy, 
at  which  he  was  highly  pleased,  but  assured  me  that  unless 
some  of  his  neighbors  should  join  us  with  their  dogs  and  his 
own,  the  attempt  would  prove  fruitless.  Soon  after,  mount- 
ing a  horse,  he  went  off  to  his  neighbors,  several  of  whom 
lived  at  a  distance  of  some  miles,  and  appointed  a  day  of 
meeting. 

The  hunters,  accordingly,  made  their  appearance,  one  fine 
morning,  at  the  door  of  the  cabin,  just  as  the  sun  was 
emerging  from  beneath  the  horizon.  They  were  five  in 
number,  and  fully  equipped  for  the  chase,  being  mounted 
on  horses,  which  in  some  parts  of  Europe  might  appear 
sorry  nags,  but  which  in  strength,  speed  and  bottom,  are 
better  fitted  for  pursuing  a  cougar  or  a  bear  through  woods 
and  morasses  than  any  in  that  country.  A  pack  of  large 
ugly  curs  were  already  engaged  in  making  acquaintance 
with  those  of  the  squatter.  He  and  myself  mounted  his  two 
best  horses,  whilst  his  sons  were  bestriding  others  of  inferior 
quality. 

Few  words  were  uttered  by  the  party  until  we  had  reached 
the  edge  of  the  Swamp,  where  it  was  agreed  that  all  should 
disperse  and  seek  for  the  fresh  track  of  the  Painter,  it  being 
previously  settled  that  the  discoverer  should  blow  his  horn, 
and  remain  on  the  spot,  until  the  rest  should  join  him.  In 
less  than  an  hour,  the  sound  of  the  horn  was  clearly  heard, 
and,  sticking  close  to  the  squatter,  off  we  went  through  the 
thick  woods,  guided  only  by  the  now  and  then  repeated  call 
cf  the  distant  huntsmen.  We  soon  reached  the  spot,  and  in 
a,  short  time  the  rest  of  the  party  came  up.  The  best  dog 
was  sent  forward  to  track  the  Cougar,  and  in  a  few  moments, 
the  whole  pack  were  observed  diligently  trailing,  and  bearing 
in  their  course  for  the  interior  of  the  Swamp.  The  rifles 


PANTHERS,  AND  OUR  OTHER  CATS.         421 

were  immediately  put  in  trim,  and  the  party  followed  the 
dogs,  at  separate  distances,  but  in  sight  of  each  other,  deter- 
mined to  shoot  at  no  other  game  than  the  Panther. 

The  dogs  soon  began  to  mouth,  and  suddenly  quickened 
their  pace.  My  companion  concluded  that  the  beast  was 
on  the  ground,  and  putting  our  horses  to  a  gentle  gallop, 
we  followed  the  curs,  guided  by  their  voices.  The  noise  of 
the  dogs  increased,  when,  all  of  a  sudden,  their  mode  of 
barking  became  altered,  and  the  squatter,  urging  me  to  push 
on,  told  me  that  the  beast  was  treed,  by  which  he  meant  that 
it  had  got  upon  some  low  branch  of  a  large  tree  to  rest  for 
a  few  moments,  and  that  should  we  not  succeed  in  shooting 
him  when  thus  situated,  we  might  expect  a  long  chase  of  it. 
As  we  approached  the  spot,  we  all  by  degrees  united  into  a 
body,  but  on  seeing  the  dogs  at  the  foot  of  a  large  tree, 
separated  again  and  galloped  off  to  surround  it. 

Each  hunter  now  moved  with  caution,  holding  his  gun 
ready,  and  allowing  the  bridle  to  dangle  on  the  neck  of  his 
horse,  as  it  advanced  slowly  towards  the  dogs.  A  shot  from 
one  of  the  party  was  heard,  on  which  the  Cougar  was  seen 
to  leap  to  the  ground,  and  bound  off  with  such  velocity  as  to 
show  that  he  was  very  unwilling  to  stand  our  fire  longer.  The 
dogs  set  off  in  pursuit  with  great  eagerness  and  a  deafening 
cry.  The  hunter  who  had  fired  came  up  and  said  that  his 
ball  had  hit  the  monster,  and  had  probably  broken  one  of  his 
fore-legs  near  the  shoulder,  the  only  place  at  which  he  could 
aim.  A  slight  trail  of  blood  was  discovered  on  the  ground, 
but  the  curs  proceeded  at  such  a  rate  that  we  merely  noticed 
this,  and  put  spurs  to  our  horses,  which  galloped  on  towards 
the  centre  of  the  Swamp.  One  bayou  was  crossed,  then 
another  still  larger  and  more  muddy;  but  the  dogs  were 
brushing  forward,  and  as  the  horses  began  to  pant  at  a 
furious  rate,  we  judged  it  expedient  to  leave  them  and 
advance  on  foot.  These  determined  hunters  knew  that  the 
Cougar  being  wounded,  would  shortly  ascend  another  tree, 


422  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

where  in  all  probability  lie  would  remain  for  a  considerable 
time,  and  that  it  would  be  easy  to  follow  the  track  of  the 
dogs.  We  dismounted,  took  off  the  saddles  and  bridles,  set 
the  bells  attached  to  the  horses'  necks  at  liberty  to  jingle, 
hoppled  the  animals,  and  left  them  to  shift  for  themselves. 

Now,  kind  reader,  follow  the  group  marching  through  the 
swamp,  crossing  muddy  pools,  and  making  the  best  of  their 
way  over  fallen  trees  and  amongst  the  tangled  rushes  that 
now  and  then  covered  acres  of  ground.  If  you  are  a  hunter 
yourself,  all  this  will  appear  nothing  to  you ;  but  if  crowded 
assemblies  of  "beauty  and  fashion,"  or  the  quiet  enjoyment 
of  your  "  pleasure-grounds,"  alone  delight  you,  I  must  mend 
my  pen  before  I  attempt  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the  pleasure 
felt  on  such  an  expedition. 

After  marching  for  a  couple  of  hours,  we  again  heard  the 
dogs.  Each  of  us  pressed  forward,  elated  at  the  thought 
of  terminating  the  career  of  the  cougar.  Some  of  the  dogs 
were  heard  whining,  although  the  greater  number  barked 
vehemently.  We  felt  assured  that  the  Cougar  was  treed, 
and  that  he  would  rest  for  some  time  to  recover  from  his 
fatigue.  As  we  came"  up  to  the  dogs,  we  discovered  the 
ferocious  animal  lying  across  a  large  branch,  close  to  the 
trunk  of  a  cotton-wood  tree.  His  broad  breast  lay  towards 
us ;  his  eyes  were  at  one  time  bent  on  us  and  again  on  the 
dogs''  beneath  and  around  him  ;  one  of  his  fore  legs  hung 
loosely  by  his  side,  and  he  lay  crouched,  with  his  ears 
lowered  close  to  his  head,  as  if  he  thought  he  might  remain 
undiscovered.  Three  balls  were  fired  at  him,  at  a  given 
signal,  on  which  he  sprang  a  few  feet  from  the  branch,  and 
tumbled  headlong  to  the  ground.  Attacked  on  all  sides  by 
the  enraged  curs,  the  infuriated  Cougar  fought  with  desperate 
valor ;  but  the  squatter  advancing  in  front  of  the  party,  and 
almost  in  the  midst  of  the  dogs,  shot  him  immediately  behind 
and  beneath  the  left  shoulder.  The  Cougar  writhed  for  a 
moment  in  agony,  and  in  another  lay  dead. 


PANTHERS,  AND  OUR  OTHER  CATS.         423 

The  sun  was  now  sinking  in  the  west.  Two  of  the  hunters 
separated  from  the  rest,  to  procure  venison,  whilst  the 
squatter's  sons  were  ordered  to  make  the  best  of  their  way 
home,  to  be  ready  to  feed  the  hogs  in  the  morning.  The 
rest  of  the  party  agreed  to  camp  on  the  spot.  The  cougar 
was  despoiled  of  its  skin,  and  its  carcass  left  to  the  hungry 
clogs.  Whilst  engaged  in  preparing  our  camp,  we  heard  the 
report  of  a  gun,  and  soon  after  one  of  our  hunters  returned 
with  a  small  deer.  A  fire  was  lighted,  and  each  hunter 
displayed  his  pone  of  bread,  along  with  a  flask  of  whisky 
The  deer  was  skinned  in  a  trice,  and  slices  placed  on  sticks 
before  the  fire.  These  materials  afforded  us  an  excellent 
meal,  and  as  the  night  grew  darker,  stories  and  songs  went 
round,  until  my  companions,  fatigued,  laid  themselves  down, 
close  under  the  smoke  of  the  fire,  and  soon  fell  asleep. 

I  walked  for  some  minutes  round  the  camp,  to  contemplate 
the  beauties  of  that  nature  from  which  I  have  certainly 
derived  my  greatest  pleasures.  I  thought  of  the  occurrences 
of  the  day,  and  glancing  my  eye  around,  remarked  the 
singular  effects  produced  by  the  phosphorescent  qualities 
of  the  large  decayed  trunks  which  lay  in  all  directions 
around  me.  HOAV  easy,  I  thought,  would  it  be  for  the 
confused  and  agitated  mind  of  a  person  bewildered  in  a 
swamp  like  this,  to  imagine  in  each  of  these  luminous  masses 
some  wondrous  and  fearful  being,  the  very  sight  of  *tvhich 
might  make  the  hair  stand  erect  on  his  head.  The  thought 
of  being  myself  placed  in  such  a  predicament  burst  over  my 
mind,  and  I  hastened  to  join  my  companions,  beside  whom 
I  laid  me  down  and  slept,  assured  that  no  enemy  could 
approach  us  without  first  rousing  the  dogs,  which  were 
growling  in  fierce  dispute  over  the  remains  of  the  cougar. 

At  daybreak  we  left  our  camp,  the  squatter  bearing  on 
his  shoulder  the  skin  of  the  late  destroyer  of  his  stock,  and 
retraced  our  steps  until  we  found  our  horses,  which  had  not 
strayed  far  from  the  place  where  we  had  left  them.  These 


424  WILD   SCENES  AND  WILD  HUNTERS. 

we  soon  saddled,  and  jogging  along,  in  a  direct  course, 
guided  by  the  sun,  congratulating  each  other  on  the  destruc- 
tion of  so  formidable  a  neighbor  as  the  panther  had  been, 
we  soon  arrived  at  my  host's  cabin.  The  five  neighbors 
partook  of  such  refreshment  as  the  house  could  afford,  and 
dispersing,  returned  to  their  homes,  leaving  me  to  follow  my 
favorite  pursuits. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

CAPTAIN   DAN   HENRIE  ;    HIS    ADVENTURE   WITH    THE   WOLVES. 

EVERY  body  remembers  the  famous  escape  of  Capt.  Dan 
Henrie  at  Encarnacion.  This  reckless  and  daring  Ranger 
probably  passed  through  a  greater  number  of  perilous  and 
singular  adventures  than  any  other  man  of  the  same  age  in 
the  service.  Though  one  of  the  most  light-hearted  mortals 
that  the  warm  sun  ever  smiled  upon,  yet  he  had  a  careless 
knack  of  getting  into  the  most  desperate  scrapes  on  every 
possible  occasion,  and  then,  of  course,  fought  his  way  out 
again  with  the  most  dashing  gallantry. 

Mark  you,  Dan  never  got  into  scrapes  with  his  own  people ; 

425 


426  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

he  was  far  too  kindly  and  generous  for  that ;  but  he  had  a 
hatred  for  the  "cussed  yaller  bellies,"  and  "copper  heads," 
as  he  called  the  Mexicans  and  Indians,  which  was  refresh- 
ingly orthodox.  His  hatred  of  the  Mexicans  was  amusingly 
bitter  and  contemptuous  while  you  listened  to  him  talk  of 
them ;  but  when  this  hatred  came  to  be  expressed  in  action, 
it  was  of  the  most  savage  and  deadly  character.  At  Encar- 
nacion,  when  the  little  band  found  themselves  surrounded  by 
the  heavy  masses  of  Minon's  cavalry,  the  proposition,  which, 
we  believe,  originated  with  Cassius  M.  Clay,  was  made  to 
Stand  to  their  arms  and  fight  it  out  with  the  Mexicans,  to 
the  last  gasp,  in  spite  of  the  disparity  of  numbers.  Lieu- 
tenant Dan,  who  was  then  their  guide,  seconded  this  propo- 
sition warmly,  and  went  about  among  the  men,  urging  them 
"to  stand  up  to  the  rack,"  as  he  called  it,  representing  that 
they  could  hope  for  nothing  but  bad  faith,  resulting  in  cold- 
blooded massacre,  if  they  surrendered  to  the  Mexicans.  He 
reminded  them  of  Goliad,  and  the  Meir  surrender,  and  of  his 
own  experience  in  the  last  case.  After  showing,  to  his  own 
satisfaction,  that  the  resolution  of  fighting;  their  wav  through 

O  O  v  O 

was  the  only  possible  chance  of  safety  or  honorable  death  left 
them,  he  concluded,  with  the  characteristic  piece  of  savage 
advice,  "  Shoot  low,  boys — shoot  them  through  their  bellies, 
so  that  their  groans  will  frighten  their  comrades — one  groancr 
is  worth  half  a  dozen  dummies  !" 

His  perfect  knowledge  of  the  Mexican  character,  as  well 
as  his  mortal  hatred  of  them,  was  fully  displayed  in  this 
advice.  Dan  knew  perfectly  that  there  would  be  no  chance 
for  him,  for  he  had  already  been  recognized  as  one  of  the 
Mcir  men  by  several  Mexicans,  whose  faces  he  remembered 
well  ;  the  surrender,  therefore,  placed  him  in  a  desperate 
predicament.  lie  knew,  perfectly,  that  whatever  faith  they 
might  keep  with  other  prisoners,  they  would  keep  none  with 
him,  although  his  safety  had  been  provided  for  in  an  express 


CAPTAIN   DAN   HENRIE.  427 

stipulation  of  the  terms  of  surrender.  I  hare  never  seen 
the  mode  of  his  escape  correctly  related  yet,  so  that  it  is 
worth  while  to  give  it  in  his  own  version. 

The  Mexicans  have  a  mortal  hatred  of  the  Meir  prisoners, 
one  and  all — but  most  particularly  do  they  detest  those  of 
them  who  rose  at  the  Salado  and  escaped  from  Perote.  Dan 
had,  unfortunately,  not  only  been  prominent  in  both  these 
affairs,  but  from  the  fact  of  speaking  the  language  as  well 
as  a  native,  he  had  always  acted  as  interpreter,  and  thus 
been  put  forward  more  conspicuously  than  any  one  of  the 
other  prisoners.  Besides  this,  he  had  previously  made  him- 
self very  notorious,  too$  as  a  Ranger.  All  these  causes 
combined  to  make  his  recognition  general  and  sure  at  almost 
any  point  on  the  whole  route  to  Mexico ;  and  if  it  had  not 
occurred  immediately,  there  was  no  telling  at  what  moment 
it  might  occur,  and  of  course,  when  his  body  might  be  made 
the  target  of  their  cowardly  hate. 

He  saw  those  men  who  had  recognized  him  whispering 
among  themselves,  and  from  his  knowledge  of  the  Mexican 
character,  felt  sure  that  so  soon  as  the  commanding  officers 
had  retired  and  left  them  in  charge  of  the  guard,  he  would 
be  shot  from  the  ranks.  It  fortunately  occurred,  that  when 
they  were  started,  Minon  and  his  staff  was  moving  in  the 
same  direction  down  the  lines  of  the  Mexican  force.  Colonel 
Gaines  rode  a  very  swift  and  beautiful  mare.  Dan  rode  up 
to  his  side  and  whispered  to  him  the  discoveries  he  had  made, 
his  fears,  and  his  determination.  Gaines  at  once,  with  a 
generous  promptness,  proposed  that  he  should  take  his  mare 
to  make  the  attempt  upon,  as  her  high-blooded  metal  would 
distance  any  Mexican  horse  with  ease.  This  was  precisely 
•what  Dan  desired,  and  he  eagerly  accepted  the  offer.  The 
officers  had  not  yet  been  deprived  of  their  pistols,  and  the 
holsters  of  Gaines  remained  on  the  saddle. 

The  mare  was  very  spirited  and  fiery,  and  Dan  slily  roused 
up  all  her  mettle  by  touching  her  with  the  spur.  She  began 


428  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

to  pitch  and  plunge,  and  throw  out  her  heels.  This  compelled 
the  escort,  or  rather  guard,  which  rode  on  either  side  of  the 
prisoners,  to  open  their  line  occasionally.  Dan  kept  it  up 
for  some  minutes,  so  as  to  remove  all  suspicion,  and  watched 
his  chance,  until  he  saw  the  guard  were  beginning  to  become 
careless,  and  regard  those  unruly  capers  rather  with  amuse- 
ment than  otherwise.  Then  seeing  his  way  open  as  they 
moved  slowly  through  the  squadrons  of  green-coated  cavalry, 
le  suddenly  reined  up  the  mare  in  the  midst  of  her  capri- 
jolings,  and  plunging  the  spurs  into  her,  she  darted  off  like 
an  arrow  loosened  from  the  bow,  while  he  stooped,  laying 
himself  close  along  her  side,  after  the  manner  of  the 
Comanche  Indians.  A  shower  of  balls  was  fired  hurriedly 
after  him,  but  without  effect,  as  they  all  passed  over  him. 

The  plain  to  the  foot  of  the  mountains  was  very  narrow 
just  here ;  and  he  had  observed,  before  he  made  his  break, 
that  they  were  opposite  a  road  which  came  down  a  narrow 
valley.  He  made  for  this  gap,  running  the  gauntlet  between 
several  squadrons  of  cavalry,  before  he  reached  its  shelter. 
Just  as  he  was  diving  into  it,  he  wheeled  in  his  saddle,  and 
amidst  the  whistling  of  balls,  shook  his  clenched  hand  at 
them,  and  shouted  back  his  defiance.  This  sudden  escape 
caused  great  uproar  and  confusion  among  the  Mexicans,  and 
several  hundred  men  started  at  full  speed  in  the  pursuit ; 
but  the  gallant  mare  soon  left  them  all  far  enough  behind, 
as  she  clattered  with  sparkling  hoofs  along  the  deep  ravine. 
Before  the  first  two  miles  had  been  passed,  the  pursuit  was 
out  of  sight  in  the  rear. 

The  valley  road,  which  he  had  taken  at  hap-hazard,  without 
the  slightest  idea  of  where  it  led,  now  opened  upon  a  small 
plain  of  table-land,  which  was  occupied  by  a  hacienda  of 
considerable  extent.  As  he  swept  l.-y  in  front  of  the  buill- 
ings,  he  saw  a  number  of  green-coats  hastily  mounting,  and 
in  another  moment  heard  the  clatter  of  their  pursuing  horses 
comiuir  down  the  road,  lie  looked  over  his  shoulder  and 


CAPTAIN   DAN   HENKIE.  429 

saw  that  it  was  probably  a  foraging  party  of  about^  ten 
lancers.  The  first  agony  was  over  now,  and  he  felt  sure 
of  the  game  and  speed  of  his  mare;  and  with  his  usual 
audacity,  he  determined  to  give  the  "yaller  bellies"  some- 
thing to  remember  him  by  before  he  took  his  final  leave. 
He  accordingly  reined  up  his  mare  gradually,  and  let  them 
gain  upon  him.  They  thought  she  was  failing,  and  raised 
a  yell  of  triumph  as  they  urged  their  horses  to  yet  greater 
exertions. 

He  looked  behind  again,  and  the  officer,  with  one  of  his 
men,  was  now  considerably  in  the  advance,  and  closing 
rapidly  upon  him.  He  loosened  a  pistol  from  the  holster. 
The  officer  was  foremost,  and  was  already  shouting  to  him,, 
with  many  "  Garachoes,"  to  surrender,  when  he  wheeled 
suddenly  in  his  saddle  and  shot  him  dead.  The  lancer, 
who  was  close  behind,  and  coming  on  at  furious  speed, 
attempted  in  vain  to  rein  up  his  horse.  It  was  too  late — 
he  was  carried  by  the  impetus  of  his  speed  within  ten  feet 
of  Dan,  who  had  by  this  time  drawn  his  other  pistol,  with 
which  he  shot  him  through  the  head,  and  then  galloped 
leisurely  along,  feeling  sure  that  the  remainder  of  his 
pursuers  would  be  stopped  effectually  by  this  bloody  barri- 
cade he  had  left  across  their  path.  He  was  not  mistaken, 
for  they  halted  there,  and  this  was  the  last  he  saw  of  their 
green  coats. 

All  that  day  long  he  kept  the  noble  beast  in  swift  motion, 
since  at  every  little  rancho  or  village  he  came  to,  it  would 
be  necessary  for  the  fugitive  to  make  a  desperate  run  for  it, 
before  a  pursuit  could  be  organized.  The  roads  were  filled, 
too,  with  scouting  parties  of  the  enemy,  and  it  required  all 
his  knowledge  of  their  sort  of  tactics  to  enable  him  to  dodge 
them.  He  several  times  very  narrowly  avoided  rushing 
headlong  into  the  very  midst  of  these  advance  parties.  The 
Mexicans  are  usually  very  noisy  troops,  and  he  would  hear 
them  talking  on  the  march  in  time  to  docl<re  to  one  side  and 


430  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

let  t^em  pass,  for  lie  had  no  fancy  to  try  the  hacienda  trick 
over  again  with  empty  pistols,  since  he  had  nothing  to  load 
them  with  again.  He  finally  threw  them  away  as  so  much 
"make-weight,"  that  was  useless  to  him  and  embarrassing 
to  his  mare. 

So  he  hurried  on,  not  daring  to  pause  a  moment  to  rest  or 
obtain  food,  until  the  next  day,  when,  in  a  deep,  wild  gorge 
among  the  mountains,  his  game  and  gallant  mare  fell  beneath 
him,  dead !  The  ravenous  and  filthy  galapotes,  (turkey- 
ouzzards,)  were  gouging  at  her  fawn-like  eyes  before  they 
were  fairly  glazed,  and  before  her  stiffened  and  staggering 
rider  was  out  of  sight.  Now  came  the  most  terrible  part 
of  this  wild  and  remarkable  adventure.  He  was  totally 
without  food,  except  what  little  fruit  of  the  cactus  he  could 
gather  during  the  day  while  he  was  skulking,  for  he  only 
ventured  to  travel  at  night  now.  This  was  scarcely  enough 
to  keep  body  and  soul  together  ;  while  his  clothes  soon  became 
torn  to  pieces,  and  hung  about  his  bleeding  limbs  like  broad 
and  tattered  ribbons.  He,  however,  still  continued  making 
his  way  steadfastly  in  the  direction  of  General  Wool's  camp. 
At  last,  some  of  his  scouts  picked  the  poor  fellow  up  when 
almost  speechless  with  thirst  and  hunger ; — he  was  yet  feebly 
reeling  along  like  a  ghostly  and  haggard  drunkard. 

This  affair  very  properly  got  him  his  promotion  to  a 
captaincy.  But  strange,  perilous,  and  even  wonderful  as 
this  escape  seems,  it  is  only  one  of  many  others  quite  as 
remarkable,  by  which  his  most  eventful  life  has  been 
checkered.  In  the  Texan  Avar  with  the  Cherokees,  which 
was  a  very  bloody  business  while  it  lasted,  he  passed  through 
scenes  as  bad,  if  not  worse  than  this.  Then  his  adventures 
as  a  Ranger  arc  very  remarkable,  for  of  many  of  these  I 
am  myself  personally  cognizant;  and  of  his  cruel  sufferings 
and  headlong  daring  during  the  Mcir  imprisonment,  all  the 
country  has  been,  to  a  certain  degree,  made  aware  since  the 
publication  of  General  Green's  book. 


CAPTAIN   DAN   HENRTE  431 

Dan,  who  was  my  comrade  in  many  a  curious  adventure, 
•was  the  same  Henrie  of  my  previous  narrative  of  the  "  Shot 
in  the  Eye."  It  is  one  of  the  drollest  of  his  many  personal 
affairs  that  I  propose  to  relate  now.  I  shall  endeavor  to 
give  it  as  nearly  as  I  can  remember,  in  his  own  way,  as 
he  related  it  to  me;  though  I  must  confess,  it  will  be  very 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  preserve  the  raciness  of  his 
rattle-pate  and  peculiar  manner.  It  was  before  he  joined 
the  Mcir  expedition,  and  while  yet  with  the  Rangers,  under 
the  command  of  McCullough. 

Dan,  whose  excellence  as  a  guide  was  well  known  to  the 
captain,  was  despatched  by  him,  along  with  three  others  of 
the  troop,  on  a  scouting  expedition,  towards  the  head  waters 
of  the  Nueces.  This  was  in  the  early  winter  of  the  year 
before  the  Meir  expedition,  and  the  Mexicans  were  in  many 
ways  annoying  and  threatening  the  weak  settlements  along 
that  river.  This  state  of  things  had  encouraged  the  Indians, 
as  well,  to  make  very  bold  descents.  McCullough  had  on 
his  first  arrival  given  them  both  a  severe  lesson,  upon  which 
the  marauders  had  taken  the  hint,  and  nothing  further  had 
been  heard  from  either  party  for  several  months.  Unwilling 
that  his  men  should  lie  in  camp  at  such  a  place  as  Corpus 
Christi,  with  nothing  to  do  but  drink  and  carouse,  the  prudent 
captain  of  Rangers  had  thought  best  to  despatch  all  the 
most  restless  spirits  on  tours  of  observation  in  various 
quarters.  Besides,  the  aspect  of  affairs  in  that  part  of  Texas 
generally,  had  begun  to  seem  rather  forlorn,  and  seemed  to 
call  for  unremitting  vigilance. 

Dan  and  his  companions  had  reached  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  in  which  the  western  branch  of  the  ISTucces  takes 
rise,  without  meeting  any  other  sort  of  incident  than  those 
which  are  common  to  prairie  travel.  Here  they  formed  their 
camp,  and  as  they  had  yet  discovered  no  signs  of  Indians, 
it  was  concluded  that  they  would  take  each  his  own  course 
the  next  day,  and  after  traversing  as  much  ground  as  possible, 


432  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

return  to  camp  and  report,  and  if  it  should  then  appear  that 
no  sign  had  yet  been  discovered  by  any  of  them,  it  was 
agreed  they  should  spend  several  days  in  a  regular  buffalo- 
hunting  frolic,  as  these  animals  seemed  to  abound  greatly  in 
this  region. 

Accordingly  they  were  under  way  quite  early,  each  man 
following  the  bent  of  his  own  humor  and  fancy  for  the  time. 

Dan  had  been  travelling  in  a  leisurely  sort  of  a  way  until 
noon,  when  he  came  upon  a  scene  of  such  remarkable  beauty 
that  he  involuntarily  stopped  to  gaze  upon  it.  He  had, 
without  observing  it,  followed  up  the  west  branch  of  the 
Nueces,  until  he  now  found  himself  at  its  very  head-spring. 
In  front  of  him  a  bold  and  broken  mountain  stood  out 
somewhat  from  the  chain,  at  the  foot  of  which  he  had  been 
riding  all  the  morning.  The  front  of  this  mountain  was  almost 
a  square  perpendicular,  and  looked  as  if  it  had  been  cleft 
from  crest  to  foot  by  a  bolt  of  thunder,  and  hurled  from  out 
the  ranks  of  its  peers.  The  huge  masses  of  stone  with  which 
it  seemed  built  were  seamed  with  a  sort  of  eccentric  regularity, 
and  evergreens  were  rooted  along  these  seams.  As  the  eye 
descended,  these  masses  became  more  broken,  and  assumed 
a  fantastic  resemblance  to  the  lines  and  forms  of  Gothic 
architecture  in  decay — while  from  the  prairie  level  sprung 
a  broken  arch,  one  side  of  which  was  perfect  in  outline,  and 
the  other  concealed  by  the  over-hanging  masses  of  evergreen 
shrubs.  At  a  distance,  this  seemed  the  arched  gateway  of 
some  huge  cavern;  but  when  he  approached  it,  he  found  that 
the  rock  slanted  in  at  just  sufficient  angle  to  give  it,  at  a 
distance,  the  appearance  of  shadow.  Instead  of  an  enormous 
cavern,  it  proved  to  be  only  a  recess  or  slanting  niche,  some 
twenty  feet  deep  at  the  bottom — from  the  back  part  of  which, 
a  bold  spring  burst  a  little  above  the  level  of  the  prairie, 
and  rushed  down  and  out  from  the  shadow,  rejoicing  over 
the  white,  sand,  until  it  sparkled  in  the  checkered  sunlight, 
beneath  the  over-hanging  evergreens  outside — then  it  coursed 


CAPTAIN   DAN   HENRIE.  483 

away  toward  the  chain  of  mountains  and  wound  about  their 
feet.  All  off  to  the  left,  and  beyond  this  remarkable 
mountain,  seemed  an  interminable  stretch  of  rolling  prairies, 
over  which,  amidst  clumps  of  cactus,  were  scattered  herds 
of  deer,  mustangs  and  buffalo,  in  view  at  once. 

Dan  has  npt  much  poetry  in  him,  but  he  could  not  help 
being  both  astonished  and  enchanted  by  the  strange,  wild 
loveliness  of  this  scene.  He  slid  from  his  saddle,  and  stood 
leaning  against  it  for  only  a  moment  or  two  of  wrapt 
contemplation,  when  the  habitual  instinct  of  watchfulness, 
peculiar  to  the  Ranger,  caused  him  to  change  his  position, 
and  turn  his  head.  As  he  did  so  he  perceived  one  of  the 
droves  of  mustangs  (wild  hoi'ses,)  moving  slowty  towards 
him.  They  were  a  long  way  off,  and  there  appeared  nothing 
peculiar  about  them — but  it  served  to  remind  him  that  he 
had  a  short  time  before  seen  the  unshod  tracks  of  horses  and 
mules  moving  at  a  gallop, — or  that,  though  they  might  be 
nothing  more  than  mustangs,  yet  the  simple  fact  of  their 
going  at  a  gallop,  was  in  itself  suspicious  of  another  fact  or 
so — either  that  they  were  the  tracks  of  Indian  horses  and 
mules,  or  of  mustangs  that  had  been  chased  or  otherwise 
frightened  by  them ;  so  that  whatever  of  enchantment  there 
may  have  been  for  him  in  the  scene,  it  now  gave  place 
quickly  to  caution,  and  his  head  turned  rapidly  from  side 
to  side,  with  the  habitual  manner  of  the  old  spy. 

His  eye  now  and  then  fell  upon  the  advancing  drove,  but 
not  with  any  consciously  defined  suspicion.  At  length  they 
disappeared  slowly  down  a  long  valley,  like  the  SAvay  of  the 
prairie  undulations,  and  were  out  of  sight  so  long  that  he 
had  quite  forgotten  them,  when  suddenly  they  appeared 
again  on  this  side,  moving  directly  towards  him,  at  a  swift 
gallop.  He  bounded  into  his  saddle  as  quick  as  thought, 
supposing  that,  may  be,  one  or  two  Indians  who  were 
mustang-hunting,  had  lain  in  wait  for  this  herd,  in  the  deep 
grass  of  that  prairie  valley,  and  were  now  chasing  them  with 

28 


434  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS.  ; 

the  lasso.  He  urged  his  horse  behind  one  of  the  many 
clumps  of  cactus  around  him,  with  the  intention  of  laying 
in  wait  to  give  these  dusky  wild  horse  hunters  a  trial  for 
their  scalps  as  they  went  past  him. 

As  he  changed  his  position,  the  figures  which  were 
approaching  became  more  distinctly  defined  against  the 
back-ground  of  sky,  for  they  were  descending  towards  him ! 
He  saw,  what  sent  his  heart  into  his  throat,  that  each 
animal  had  an  Indian  slung  along  its  side,  by  one  hand 
and  foot,  holding  to  either  horn  of  the  saddle !  This  is  a 
common  trick  of  theirs  in  approaching  an  enemy  by  day-light, 
on  the  prairies;  and  it  is  difficult  of  detection  at  a  distance, 
by  the  most  experienced  eye,  as  they  ride  close  together, 
and  no  part  of  the  body  is  shown  above  the  outline  of  the 
horse. 

Dan  was  off  in  a  twinkling  !  The  tables  were  very  suddenly 
turned;  for  instead  of  taking  a  scalp  or  two  himself,  as  ho 
had  expected,  it  would  now  require  the  best  he  knew  to  save 
his  own.  It  was  well  that  he  could  trust  his  horse,  for  they 
had  got  so  close  to  him  that  his  escape  at  all  must  be  a  matter 
of  sheer  speed — he  must  run  away  from  them  or  be  run  through 
by  them.  "To  be  or  not  to  be,"  was  the  question  now  with 
poor  Dan,  while  he  desperately  urged  his  good  horse  with 
quirt  and  spur.  So  soon  as  they  saw  him  start,  the  rascals 
had  wheeled  up  into  their  saddles  again,  and  yelled  their 
war-whoop  like  exulting  devils.  This  was  a  sound  which, 
though  it  came  to  his  ears  somewhat  softened  by  the  distance, 
was  by  no  means  calculated  to  diminish  the  energy  or  urgency 
of  the  calls  upon  the  speed  of  his  horse,  which  were  made  by 
Dan.  He  glanced  furtively  over  his  shoulder  and  saw  that 
they  were  spreading  out  into  the  prairie  with  tlie  intention 
of  hemming  him  in  against  the  mountains.  He  instantly 
perceived  that  his  only  chance  was  a  desperate  run  for  an 
elbow  of  the  chain,  which,  if  he  could  reach  and  turn  first,  he 
thought  would  secure  his  scalp  for  the  present,  as  around  it 


CAPTAIN   DAN   HENRIE.  435 

the  stream  became  heavily  timbered,  and  he  knew  they  would 
not  follow  him  into  it  for  fear  they  might  come  upon  his 
friends. 

It  was  a  tremendous  race,  for  the  Indians  knew  the 
advantage  as  well  as  he ;  and  Dan  vows  that  his  long  curly 
hair  began  to  straighten  and  lift  his  cap  on  its  ends  before 
he  reached'  the  point,  they  pushed  him  so  close  and  hard. 
By  the  skin  of  his  teeth  he  got  by  before  they  surrounded 
him,  and  now  he  says  his  "  hair  fell  as  smooth  and  sleek  as 
if  a  pint  of  bear's  grease  had  been  poured  over  it;"  but  not 
until  he  had  reached  up  and  taken  down  his  cap  off  the  stiff 
ends  to  wave  as  he  shouted  back  at  them  in  derisive  triumph, 
and  then  darted  beneath  the  shades  of  the  friendly  wood. 
They  left  him  here  as  he  expected ;  but  as  this  was  most 
evidently  a  dangerous  neighborhood,  he  concluded  it  would 
be  safest  not  to  tarry  here  but  get  out  of  it  as  fast  as  possible, 
for  there  was  no  telling  what  new  whim  might  take  these 
fellows  when  they  had  spread  around  on  his  trail  and  found 
him  to  be  alone !  So  away  he  went  through  the  woods  for 
five  or  six  miles  without  halting. 

The  hurry  and  necessities  of  his  flight  had  taken  him  off 
his  course  back  to  the  rendezvous  of  his  companions.  He 
now  first  discovered  this  as  he  emerged  from  the  timber  upon 
the  prairie  again,  and  found  himself  far  enough  away  from 
the  course  of  the  stream.  He  paused  but  for  a  moment,  to 
collect  himself  and  try  and  get  back  the  true  idea  of  his 
direction.  Thinking  he  had  it,  he  urged  his  horse  into  a 
swift  run  again.  This  was  kept  up  for  several  hours,  until 
night  began  to  close  around'  him,  and  his  horse  to  give 
unmistakable  indications  that  he  must  have  rest  before  he 
went  much  further.  He  came  at  last  to  a  small  rivulet 
trickling  along  a  deep,  rough  cut,  and  as  he  supposed,  in  the 
direction  of  the  west  branch  of  the  Nueces.  He  had  passed 
the  camp  far  enough,  he  knew,  but  this  would  set  him  right 
if  he  followed  it  up  when  daybreak  came.  So  he  selected 


436  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

a  small  piece  of  meadow  ground  which  was  -covered  with 
musquit  grass,  and  well  protected  from  view  by  the  great 
clusters  of  cactus  which  surrounded  it  on  three  sides.  Here 
he  stripped  his  faithful  horse  and  turned  him  loose  to  graze, 
and  then  taking  for  supper  a  hearty  draught  of  water,  threw 
himself  upon  his  blanket  to  sleep. 

He  had  lost  his  provision  wallet  in  the  chase,  and  it  was 
more  than  he  dare  venture  upon  to  shoot  game,  for  fear  of 
betraying  his  hiding-place ;  and  though  hungry  enough,  he 
was  fain  this  time  "to  go  to  bed  supperless."  He  thought 
of  home  before  sleep  came,  of  course,  and  wished  himself 
there  most  heartily,  that  he  might  attack  the  well-stocked 
pantry,  the  contents  of  which  danced  in  most  tantalizing 
visions  before  him  during  the  whole  night.  This  was  too 
much  a  common  predicament,  however,  to  make  any  very 
strong  impression  upon  him  otherwise. 

He  was  mounted  and  off  very  early  the  next  morning,  and 
was  by  no  means  delighted  to  perceive  that  his  horse  was 
considerably  gaunted  by  the  yesterday's  hard  work  and  the 
somewhat  narrow  commons  of  the  night.  However,  he  moved 
on  noAV  with  something  less  of  a  hurry,  as  there  were  no 
indications  of  pursuit  apparent.  Following  the  rivulet,  he 
soon  reached  the  west  branch,  and  turned  up  this  with  a 
brisker  movement,  spurred  by  the  cheerful  hope  of  soon 
rejoining  his  companions  and  finding  them  safe.  In  an  hour 
he  was  in  sight  of  the  ground,  and  put  his  horse  into  a  swift 
gallop  in  his  eagerness  to  pass  over  the  interval  quickly.  On 
coming  up,  he  saw,  instead  of  his  comrades,  the  dead  body 
of  an  Indian  warrior  lying  across  the  very  ashes  of  their 
camp  fire,  all  gashed  and  hewn  with  bowie-knife  cuts.  All 
around  the  earth  was  deeply  broken  up,  with  the  evidences 
of  a  desperate  hand  to  hand  struggle.  The  breech  of  a 
rifle,  which  he  recognized,  and  a  number  of  arrows,  with  a 
broken  lance  and  shield,  were  scattered  around.  lie  felt  a 
choking  sensation  and  his  blood  ran  cold  at  this  sight. 


CAPTAIN  DAN   HEKHIE.  437' 

His  comrades  had  been  surprised,  no  doubt,  by  the  same 
party  which  had  pursued  him,  but  with  what  result  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  tell  certainly,  though  he  had  little 
choice  but  to  believe  and  fear  the  worst.  Amid  the  multitude 
of  the  tracks  of  unshod  horses,  he  could  distinguish  the  few 
tracks  of  their  shod  horses.  There  was  no  trace  of  their 
bodies  in  the  hasty  survey  he  had  time  to  make,  and  it 
seemed  very  strange  that  this  dead  warrior  should  be  left 
behind,  so  contrary  to  their  well-known  custom  !  He  followed 
the  trail  for  some  time,  with  great  caution,  but  could  make 
no  discovery,  except  a  great  deal  of  blood  on  the  ground, 
until  towards  noon,  when  rising  the  comb  of  a  steep  ridge, 
he  looked  down  into  the  plain  below  upon  a  large  body  of 
Indians,  encamped  about  a  mile  distant. 

This  was  a  startling  sight,  and  they  perceived  him  at  the 
same  moment.  Now  he  felt  he  would  have  indeed  to  run 
for  his  life.  One  glance,  as  he  wheeled,  was  sufficient  to 
show  him  warriors  mounting  the  horses  of  his  friends  !  He 
did  not  dread  a  race  with  the  horses  of  the  Indians  so  much, 
because  his  horse  was  more  than  a  match  for  the  best  of 
theirs ;  but  the  horses  of  his  comrades  were  as  swift,  and  in 
every  sense  as  good  as  his — now  they  were  to  be  turned 
against  him !  He  cursed  the  rashness  that  had  induced 
him  to  follow  up  their  trail,  but  this  was  no  time  to  pause 
for  regrets — he  was  off,  down  the  hill,  at  the  best  speed 
his  horse,  already  somewhat  fagged,  could  raise.  All 
depended  upon  getting  back  to  the  timber  and  losing 
them !  He  could  hear  their  pursuing  yells,  distinctly,  for 
a  moment,  and  this  was  no  syren's  music  to  draw  him 
back !  He  had  a  good  mile  the  start,  but  that  was  no 
great  matter,  if,  as  he  supposed,  their  horses  were  fresher 
than  his  own  !  He  had  not  time  now  to  feel  any  alarm, 
but  only  that  there  was  hot  work  before,  and  he -had  it  to 
attend  to  !  His  object  was  to  get  out  of  sight  as  soon  as 
possible,  for  he  gained  a  great  deal  by  compelling  them 


438  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

to  run  on  his  trail.  He  strained  his  horse  tremendously,  and 
succeeded,  for  when  the  sudden  burst  of  their  voices  came 
from  time  to  time,  proving  that  they  had  reached  the  comb 
of  the  ridge,  he  looked  back,  and  could  not  see  it  or  them. 

He  felt  a  little  less  tight  about  the  heart  now,  and  had 
time  to  think  something  of  his  best  course.  It  seemed  a 
forlorn  chance  for  an  escape — he  was  over  six  miles  from 
timber.  He  suddenly  remembered  that  he  had  observed, 
for  several  days  past,  a  heavy  smoke  off  towards  the  south, 
and  looking  now  in  that  direction,  saw  it  filling  the  whole 
horizon  with  gloomy  masses,  which  seemed  to  be  rising  but 
a  few  miles  off.  Observing  that  it  was  not  very  high,  it 
instantly  occurred  to  him  in  his  extremity,  for  he  felt  sure 
from  the  action  of  his  horse,  that  he  would  not  last  much 
longer  in  the  hard  run  before  them,  that  the  safest  course 
for  him  would  be  the  most  desperate,  and  this  was  to  make 
directly  for  the  approaching  line  of  this  fire,  and  take  his 
chance  of  being  able  to  force  his  way  through  it  alive. 
With  such  a  barrier  between  himself  and  the  Indians,  he 
was  safe !  Acting  upon  this  stern  and  strange  alternative, 
he  urged  his  horse  steadily  towards  the  fire.  It  was  not 
long  before  he  met  the  dark  advance  guard  of  the  smoke, 
as  it  rolled  along  the  grass,  and  rode  beneath  its  stifling 
shelter,  the  fire  being  yet  a  mile  off. 

He  was  now  securely  enough  out  of  sight  of  the  Indians, 
and  springing  from  his  horse,  proceeded  to  prepare  himself 
for  a  trial  of  the  fiery  sea.  He  cut  his  blanket  into  pieces, 
with  one  of  which  he  blindfolded  his  horse ;  another  he  tied 
in  a  loose  bag  about  the  lower  part  of  its  head,  enveloping 
the  mouth  and  nostrils.  He  then  enveloped  his  own  face 
in  a  loose  vizor  of  the  same  material.  The  blanket  was 
coarse  and  let  in  air  enough  to  barely  sustain  life  for  a 
short  time,  while  it  kept  out  the  smoke.  lie  could  hear 
the  yells  of  his  pursuers  seemingly  close  at  hand.  He  was 
now  in  utter  darkness,  and  mounting  quickly  again,  headed 


CAPTAIN   DAN   HENRIE.  439 

his  horse  directly  for  the  fire.  On  lie  went,  not  knowing 
where ;  the  reins  were  tightened,  and  the  lash  and  spur 
applied  with  the  energy  of  desperation. 

Hotter  and  hotter  the  air  became,  but  on  he  careered, 
heady  and  blind.  The  fire  has  struck  him  with  a  roaring 
surge !  His  hair  flames  crisply,  and  the  flesh  of  his  body 
seems  to  be  burning !  The  frantic  and  panting  horse 
attempts  to  shy:  but  no,  the  fierceness  of  the  agony  has 
turned  that  rider's  arm  and  will  to  iron ! 

It  cannot  shy — the  poor  horse !  On !  on !  scorching 
through  the  stifling  blaze  !  A  few  bounds  more  and  the 
terrific  surges  are  past !  The  fresh  air  has  met  him !  He 
tore  the  envelope  from  his  face  and  leaped  from  the  stag- 
gering horse  upon  the  charred  hot  ground,.  The  blanket 
is  torn  away  from  its  mouth,  and  the  animal  begins  to 
revive  quickly,  though  it  shivers  and  can  scarcely  stand 
for  the  mortal  terror !  He  is  safe !  He  has  accomplished 
an  unparalleled  feat ! 

He  hears  faintly  above  the  crackling  and  roar  of  the 
retiring  flames  a  howl  of  triumph  from  his  pursuers,  who 
imagine  they  have  driven  him  into  the  fire,  and  that  he 
is  burnt,  horse  and  all.  He  makes  a  feeble  attempt  to 
answer  them  defiantly,  but  can  scarcely  hear  his  own  voice. 
Stunned,  and  gasping  to  recover  the  use  of  their  almost 
stifled  lungs,  he  and  his  horse  stand,  side  by  side,  upon 
that  blackened  plain,  without  moving  a  step  for  more  than 
an  hour. 

But  the  perils  of  the  day  were  by  no  means  passed. 
Before  him,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  there  was  only 
one  charred,  level,  smouldering  waste,  which  had  to  be 
crossed  before  he  could  reach  water,  for  which  both  himself 
and  horse  were  now  almost  perishing.  He  started  on  at 
last,  taking  his  course  at  random,  for  one  seemed  to  his 
bewildered  sense  about  as  good  as  another.  He  did  not 
ride  at  first,  but  mercifully  led  his  poor  horse,  until  the 


440  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS/ 

heat  of  the  ground  and  the  still  smouldering  stubs  of  grass 
became  insufferable  to  his  feet,  and  then  he  turned  to  mount. 
He  now,  for  the  first  time,  looked  at  the  animal  carefully, 
and  to  his  horror,  saw  that  nearly  every  hair  upon  its  body 
was  gone,  and  little  but  the  bare  skin  left,  and  that  was 
so  badly  scorched  in  places,  as  to  come  off  at  the  slightest 
touch. 

This  was  dreadful  enough,  but — water  !  water  !  water  !  he 
must  have  that,  or  they  would  both  die.  He  sprang  into 
the  saddle  and  urged  the  wretched  creature  along  with  the 
last  energies  of  his  sinking  life.  In  an  hour  he  had  begun 
to  grow  dizzy,  and  the  blackened  earth  swam  round  and 
round,  and  tossed  him  to  and  fro  !  Now  a  strange  noise 
was  about  him ;  and  as  the  lifting  waves  of  the  earth  would 
almost  seem  to  leap  up  into  his  face,  he  would  catch  glimpses 
of  huge  wolves  careering  on  them,  turning  up  their  fiery 
eyes  to  his,  and  howling  at  him  with  red  hot  open  mouths 
and  lolling  tongues !  Suddenly  his  horse  rushed  down  a 
steep  bank,  and  there  was  a  great  splashing.  Water ! 
Blessed  God,  water !  He  tumbled  from  his  saddle  into 
the  cold  delicious  fluid. 

In  an  instant  his  senses  had  returned,  and  he  saw  himself 
surrounded  by  thirty  or  forty  prairie  wolves,  some  of  whom 
were  swimming  in  the  water  after  him,  while  the  others  sat 
upon  the  bank  of  the  small  lake,  and  howled  their  gathering 
cry.  He  struck  those  which  were  nearest  with  his  gun  barrel 
and  beat  them  off,  while  he  had  time  to  draw  his  heavy  knife. 
One  of  them  had  seized  his  passive  horse,  who,  while  it  was 
endeavoring  to  pull  him  down,  stood  still  and  drunk — the 
long  eager  draughts.  He  split  the  wolf's  head  with  his 
knife,  and  soon  sent  the  rest  back  out  of  the  water,  yelling 
with  their  wounds.  But  those  upon  the  bank  only  howled 
the  louder,  and  they  were  answered  near  at  hand  and  from 
afar  by  hundreds  of  others,  who  were  swiftly  gathering  in 
at  the  well-known  call  to  a  banquet. 


CAPTAIN   DAN  HENKIE.  441 

He  now  remembered  that  these  weird  and  infernal  brutes 
always  collect  in  large  numbers,  to  follow  in  the  wake  of  a 
great  prairie  fire,  and  tear  the  carcasses  of  those  animals 
that  are  killed;  or  band  together,  to  chase  and  drag  down 
those  that  come  through  alive,  but  scorched,  blinded  and 
staggering,  as  was  his  poor  horse.  They  become  very 
savage  with  blood,  impunity  and  numbers,  and  very  few 
creatures  which  have  escaped  from  the  hungry  flames  can 
escape  from  their  yet  more  ravenous  jaws.  The  creature, 
at  other  times,  is  utterly  contemptible  for  its  cowardice ; 
but  he  shuddered  when  he  called  to  mind  the  dreadful 
stories  he  had  heard  of  its  deadly  fierceness  on  such  occa- 
sions as  this. 

"My  God!"  he  moaned  aloud:  "Wasn't  it  bad  enough 
for  me  to  pass  that  hell  of  flames  back  yonder  !  and  have 
I  only  escaped  that  to  meet  a  fate  a  thousand  times  more 
hideous  ?" 

He  looked  at  his  horse ;  the  animal  was  now,  too,  partially 
refreshed,  and  began  to  be  conscious  of  the  new  danger  as  it 
gazed  around  with  staring  eyeballs  upon  the  eager  and  swiftly 
gathering  crowd  that  howled  along  the  bank.  He  snorted 
in  affright,  and  lifted  his  head  with  a  wildly  mournful 
neigh,  that  seemed  to  poor  Dan  the  most  piteous  sound 
that  ever  rung  upon  his  ear  before.  There  was  some  com- 
fort though,  the  horse  had  life  enough  in  him  to  make  one 
more  run  for  safety. 

He  mounted,  and  after  having  fired  his  rifle,  with  deliberate 
aim,  into  the  thickest  of  them,  charged  right  through  at  full 
speed.  They  leaped  at  his  feet  and  attempted  to  seize  his 
horse's  legs,  but  the  animal  was  too  mortally  frightened  for 
them  to  impede  his  way  for  an  instant.  Through  he  trampled, 
and  away  across  the  prairie  he  flies,  snorting  with  terror,  and 
moving  with  as  great  speed  as  if  perfectly  fresh ;  and  away, 
too,  in  pursuit,  swept  the  yelling  herd  of  wolves.  There  were 
more  than  a  hundred  now,  and  seemed  increasing  in  numbers 


442  WILD    SCENES    AND    WILD   HUNTERS. 

at  every  jump ;  for  as  Dan  glanced  his  frightened  eyes  around, 
he  would  see  them  straitened  out  with  speed  and  their  mouths 
wide  open,  coming  to  join  the  terrible  route  from  every  direc- 
tion over  the  prairie.  He  looks  behind  him — they  were  close 
upon  his  heels.  The  great  part  of  them,  particularly  those  in 
front,  and  who  seemed  most  fierce  and  ravenous,  were  scorched 
nearly  naked ;  and  with  the  white  foam  flying,  their  long  red 
tongues,  their  fiery  glaring  eyes,  they  presented  the  most 
hideous  picture  of  unearthly  terror  that  ever  mortal  lived 
to  be  chased  by  unless  by  the  horrible  phantasmagoria  of 
madness ! 

He  fired  his  pistols  back  at  them,  but  it  made  no  difference ; 
they  only  yelled  the  louder,  and  came  on  the  more  fiercely, 
while  five  joined  their  long  train  for  each  one  that  he  had 
killed.  If  his  horse  should  fall  or  give  out,  they  would  both 
be  torn  to  fragments  in  an  instant !  This  appalling  convic- 
tion caused  him  to  give  all  of  eye  and  nerve  that  were  left 
him  in  the  mortal  fright  to  steadying  and  guiding  his  horse, 
for  the  only  hope  now  lay  in  him.  He  soon  perceived, 
however,  that  he  was  leaving  the  pack  far  behind,  for  there 
is  little  comparison  between  the  speed  of  a  horse  and  that 
of  the  prairie  wolf. 

He  now  began  to  feel  something  of  hope ;  and  as  the 
frantic  speed  of  his  horse  placed  yet  a  greater  distance 
between  them,  the  unimaginable  dread  seemed  to  be  lifting 
from  his  life.  Now  he  could  not  hear  their  yells,  and  could 
barely  distinguish,  far  in  the  rear,  the  long  snake-like  train 
yet  moving  on  in  the  relentless  chase,  over  the  undula- 
tions of  the  bare  plain.  He  sees  timber  ahead,  and  shouts 
in  an  ecstacy  of  joyful  relief,  for  then  he  himself  at  least 
id  safe !  He  can  climb  a  tree — and  in  the  delight  of  that 
thought,  he  has  no  time  for  thinking  that  his  poor  horse 
cannot  climb  trees  ! 

The  horse  sees,  and  is  inspirited,  too — for  to  all  creatures 
on  the  prairies  there  seems  to  be  a  vague  feeling  of  safety 


CAPTAIN   DAN   HENRIE.  443 

in  the  sight  of  woods.  But,  alas,  poor  horse !  They  have 
reached  the  timber,  but  scarcely  a  hundred  rods  have  been 
passed  over,  when  the  faithful  creature  gives  out ;  and  after 
a  few  ineffectual  efforts  still  to  obey  the  urging  spur,  can  only 
lean  against  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  and  pant  and  groan  with 
exhaustion.  Dan  ascends  the  tree,  tying  the  lariat  of  his 
horse  to  one  of  the  lower  limbs.  He  then  loaded  his  arms 
in  the  forlorn  hope  of  defending  him  if  they  came  up.  All 
was  still  as  death,  but  the  loud  panting  of  the  exhausted 
animal.  He  ascended  higher  to  look  out  for  the  approach 
of  the  wolves,  for  he  had  a  faint  hope  that  they  had  given 
up  the  chase.  But,  alas !  his  heart  sinks  again.  There  they 
come,  the  long  yellowish  looking  train :  and  several  large 
white  wolves  have  joined  them  now.  He  knows  well  the 
tameless  and  pitiless  ferocity  of  tnese  red-eyed  monsters, 
and  feels  that  his  true,  his  noble  horse,  must  go ! 

Now  he  can  hear  their  cry !  They  are  in  the  woods. 
The  poor  horse  shivers — looks  back,  and  utters  that  wild 
and  wailing  neigh,  as  they  rush  upon  him  in  a  body.  Dan 
fires  down  among  them  ;  but  what  avail  is  it !  In  a  twink- 
ling, his  gallant  beast  is  down,  and  has  been  torn  to  atoms  ! 
The  halter  of  the  lariat  hangs  empty  beside  the  tree. 

Now  they  lie  panting  around  the  foot  of  the  tree,  with 
their  fiery  eyes  turned  wistfully  up  at  him — for  the  horse 
had  been  only  a  mouthful  a  piece.  Whenever  he  makes  a 
movement,  they  rise  with  eager  yells,  and  leap  up  towards 
him,  as  if  to  meet  his  fall.  Dan  says,  that  in  the  utter 
and  dreadfully  hopeless  desperation  of  his  position  now,  a 
grotesque  sort  of  humor  possessed  him  of  a  sudden,  and 
he  commenced  deliberately  firing  down  at  the  red  glaring 
eyeballs  of  the  white  wolves,  and  would  roar  with  laughter, 
and  fairly  dance  upon  his  ticklish  perch  with  glee,  when  he 
saw  the  creature  tumble  over  with  a  shrill  death-cry;  and 
then  the  whole  pack  rush  on  it  and  tear  it  into  shreds  in  an 
instant,  with  gnashing  cries. 


444  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

He  says  he  amused  himself  in  this  way  for  an  hour,  and 
made  them  tear  to  pieces  every  white  wolf  that  had  joined 
the  chase.  This  sport  delighted  him  so  much,  that  he 
became  careless,  and  narrowly  escaped  falling.  He  only 
saved  himself  by  dropping  his  gun,  which  they  seized,  and 
almost  tore  its  stock  to  pieces  before  they  discovered  it 
was  not  eatable.  I  saw  the  dents  of  their  teeth  in  the 
barrel  afterwards.  Darkness  was  coming  on,  and  they 
seemed  not  in  the  least  disposed  to  go ;  and  he  felt  that 
he  must  tumble  out  from  the  faintness  of  hunger  and 
fatigue,  if  he  was  compelled  to  spend  another  hour  in  that 
tree  without  food.  He  had  become  entirely  reckless  now, 
and  loaded  up  his  pistols,  determined,  if  he  must  fall,  to 
bring  death  with  him  for  some  more  of  them. 

Suddenly  he  heard  a  distant  yelling  on  the  prairie,  like 
that  which  had  sounded  so  dreadfully  behind  his  flight. 
The  wolves  sprung  to  their  feet  in  a  body,  and  with  pricked 
ears,  listened.  He  looked  out  towards  the  prairie,  and  could 
faintly  discover  a  large  buffalo  bull  plunging  along  over  the 
plain,  surrounded  by  a  great  herd  of  wolves,  who  were 
tearing  him  at  every  jump.  He  could  even  hear  the  low 
bellowing  of  the  creature's  agony.  Another  victim !  and  hia 
thirsty  guardians  started  to  join  the  chase.  One  after  another 
they  went ;  while  those  who  staid  behind  would  turn  their 
heads  to  look  back  wistfully  at  him,  and  whine  and  lick 
their  dry  chaps.  When  the  chase  come  in  sight  though, 
off  they  started  in  a  body  with  savage  yells.  He  fired  his 
pistols  after  them  in  farewell,  and  killed  one  of  the  hindmost, 
while  another,  with  a  broken  shoulder,  kept  on  yelling  with 
the  pack. 

He  knew  he  would  be  safe  now  if  he  could  get  a  fire 
kindled  before  they  returned,  if  they  did  so  at  all.  Before 
they  were  out  of  sight,  he  had  reached  the  ground,  and 
with  trembling  eagernoas  proceeded  to  light  a  fire  with  the 
help  of  his  flint  and  steel,  winch  every  Hanger  carries.  He 


CAPTAIN  DAN  HENIUE.  445 

soon  had  a  great  fire  blazing,  and  then  cutting  a  piece  from 
the  last  wolf  he  had  killed,  proceeded  to  roast  it  for  food. 
When  he  had  eaten,  he  felt  so  much  refreshed  that  he  could 
now  proceed  to  make  provision  for  the  night's  rest.  He 
gathered  a  great  deal  of  dried  wood,  and  built  a  large  fire 
in  a  circle  about  the  spot  he  had  selected  to  sleep  upon. 
TLe  wolves  came  back  in  about  an  hour  after  he  had  finished 
his  arrangements  for  the  night;  but  he  now  felt  perfectly 
secure,  for  though  he  could  see  their  hungry  eyes  shining 
all  round  the  outside  of  the  circle,  and  they  kept  up  a 
continued  howling  all  night  long,  he  laid  himself  down  and 
slept  soundly  until  morning. 

When  he  waked  up,  the  wolves  were  all  gone  but  one  or 
two,  craunching  at  the  bones  of  yesterday's  feast.  He  shot 
one  of  them  with  his  pistol,  and  made  a  breakfast  off  of  it. 
He  picked  up  the  gun,  and  found  that  though  very  much 
torn,  it  could  still  be  used.  He  now  took  his  course,  and 
started  to  foot  it  into  the  settlements.  After  a  week  of 
alrnoet  incredible  suffering,  he  got  in  safe,  and  saw  nothing 
more  of  the  wolves  or  of  his  comrades,  who  are  thought  to 
have  been  carried  off  prisoners,  and  afterwards  murdered 
by  the  Indians  on  their  attempting  to  escape. 

Dan  was  sick  of  a  fever  for  several  weeks  at  Corpus  Christ! 
after  he  got  in,  and  raved  incessantly  about  wolves. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE   DARKIE   FIDDLER   AND   TEE   VOLVL~'. 

POOR  Dan  Henrie's  adventure  with  the  wolves  has  reminded 
me  of  one  or  two  other  incidents  sufficiently  characteristic  of 
the  habits  of  that  remarkable  animal  to  be  worthy  of  relation 
here,  by  way  of  interlude. 

The  wolf,  besides  being  the  most  ubiquitous  of  our 
predatory  animals,  is  the  most  active,  tenacious  and  difficult 
of  extirpation.  It  is  everywhere.  It  fills-in  the  chinks  of 
desolation.  Its  savage,  grinning  head  peers  through  all  the 
broken  glooms  of  our  stern  wildernesses — a  ghoul-like  presence 
— hideous,  gaunt  and  fierce !  It  knows  no  sympathies,  and 

446 


THE   DARKIE   FIDDLER.  447 

we  give  it  none.  Yet  there  is  one  droll  incident  with  -which 
my  boyhood  was  familiar,  which  seems  to  indicate  a  certain 
susceptibility  to  the  softer  emotions — or  more  refined  senses 
— at  least. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  settlement  of  South  Kentucky, 
there  was  great  trouble  with  the  wolves.  The  large  gray 
wolf  of  the  more  wooded  northern  and  middle  districts,  greatly 
abounded  in  the  heavy  forests  of  the  Green  River  Bottom, 
particularly  in  th*.  neighborhood  of  Henderson,  which  is 
situated  on  the  Ohio,  not  far  below  the  mouth  of  Green 
River.  The  barn-yard  suffered  to  a  great  extent,  in  the  way 
of  pigs,  calves,  etc.,  from  their  depredations,  which  frequently, 
in  mid-winter,  were  even  carried  to  the  audacious  extreme 
of  attacking  human  beings.  Indeed,  it  was  no  unusual  thing 
for  the  belated  footman,  at  such  times,  when  they  were 
pressed  by  hunger,  to  find  himself  surrounded  by  a  herd  of 
them  in  the  woods.  Some  striking  stories  of  hair-breadth 
escapes  and  desperate  ventures,  belong  to  this  period  and 
condition  of  things.  No  one  of  them  ever  made  a  stronger 
impression  upon  me  than  the  adventure  of  old  Dick,  the 
fiddler. 

He  was  "  a  good  old  good-for-nothing  darkie,"  as  the  word 
went  in  the  neighborhood,  whose  sole  merit  consisted  in  his 
fiddling — but,  by  the  way  ! — singular  as  this  merit  was, — it 
in  reality  constituted  him  by  far  the  most  important  "gemmen 
of  color"  within  forty  miles  around.  The  fact  is,  nothing 
of  any  interest  could  occur  without  his  presence !  It  was 
as  important — skinny  as  it  was ! — as  the  very  face  of  the 
man  in  the  moon, — beneath  whose  auspices  the  corn-shockings/ 
the  weddings,  the  "break-downs"  and  Juba  dances  of  the 
neighborhood  were  enacted. 

Old  Dick,  who  was  the  property  of  one  of  the  Hendersons, 
from  whom  the  town  and  county  take  their  names,  waa 
esteemed  by  his  good-natured  and  wealthy  master  as  decidedly 


448  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

a  privileged  character.  He  had  his  time  pretty  much  to 
himself,  and  no  one  pretended  to  interfere  with  its  disposal, 
as  his  master  humorously  styled  him  a  "  necessary  nuisance" 
to  the  neighborhood,  because  he  kept  the  darkies  in  a  good 
humor  by  his  fiddle.  Now  Dick  had  most  strongly  developed 
the  strongest  and  most  marked  traits  of  the  fiddler,  the  world 
over,  namely,  punctiliousness  and  punctuality.  Upon  either 
of  these  points  he  was  peculiarly  irritable,  nay  even  ferocious. 
With  all  the  proverbial  timidity  of  the  "  child  of  genius," 
Old  Dick  was  yet  as  savage  as  a  hyena  at  any  improprieties 
of  etiquette  which  might  chance  to  turn  up  during  the  sable 
orgies  over  which  he  presided ;  but  nothing  caused  him  to 
so  far  forget  "the  proprieties"  in  his  own  person,  as  the 
intervention  of  any  unusual  or  accidental  causes  of  delay 
which  prevented  his  being  on  hand  in  time  !  Poor  Dick  ! — 
but  the  story  I  have  to  tell  of  him  will  explain  ! 

On  the  occasion  of  a  grand  wedding  festival  among  the 
colored  gentry  of  a  neighboring  plantation,  some  six  miles 
distant,  Old  Dick  was,  of  course,  expected  to  officiate  as 
master  of  the  ceremonies.  It  had  been  an  unusually  severe 
winter,  and  a  heavy  snow  lay  upon  the  ground  on  the  event- 
ful evening,  when,  having  donned  his  "long-tailed  blue," 
with  its  glittering  gilt  buttons,  and  mounted  the  immense 
shirt  collar,  by  the  aid  of  which  the  dignity  of  his  official 
character  was  properly  maintained,  the  ancient  Apollo 
sallied  forth,  fiddle  in  hand,  to  dare  the  perils  of  the  distant 
way  alone:  for  the  younger  darkies  had  all  gone  to  the  frolic 
hours  ago,  with  a  haste  and  eagerness  altogther  unbecoming 
his  importance. 

The  moon  was  out,  and  the  stars  twinkled  merrily  over 
head,  as  the  spry  old  man  trudged  away  over  the  crisp  and 
crackling  snow.  The  path,  which  was  a  very  narrow  one, 
led,  for  the  greater  part  of  the  way,  through  the  dark  shadows 
of  a  heavy  bottom  forest,  which  yet  remained  as  wild  as 


THE   DAKKIE   FIDDLER.  449 

when  the  Indians  roamed  it,  an<J  was  untraversed  by  a  wagon 
road  for  many  miles. 

The  profound  and  dreary  solitude  of  the  way  could  not 
have  failed  to  impress  any  one  who  was  not  either  more  or 
less  than  human,  except  under  conditions  of  entire  pre-occupa- 
•  tion  in  one  absorbing  thought,  such  as  now  held  absolutely 
the  body  and  soul  of  the  old  man,  in  the  strained  tension 
of  an  anxious  hurry  to  reach  the  seat  of  operations,  in  exact 
time.  He  was  goaded  at  every  step  by  the  maddening  vision 
of  the  expectant  ranks  of  sable  gentility,  rolling  the  whites 
of  their  eyes  and  stamping  their  stocking  feet  upon  the 
puncheon  floor,  impatient  of  his  delay;  for  the  truth  was, 
that  he  had  lingered  a  little  too  long  over  the  polishing  of 
those  brass  buttons  and  the  setting  of  that  plentitude  of 
collar,  and  he  now  first  became  conscious  of  it  as  he  had 
come  forth  beneath  the  moon  and  perceived  its  unexpected 
height  above  the  horizon. 

On  he  dashed  with  unrelaxing  energy,  heedless  of  the 
black  shadows  and  hideous  night-cries  in  the  deep  forest. 
Wolves  were  howling  around  him  in  every  direction,  but  he 
paid  no  attention  to  sounds  that  were  so  common.  However, 
he  was  soon  compelled  to  give  more  heed  to  these  animals 
than  was  by  any  means  pleasing  or  expected.  He  had  now 
made  nearly  half  of  his  journey,  and  the  light  opening  ahead 
through  the  trees  showed  him  the  "old  clearing,"  as  it  was 
called,  through  which  his  path  led.  The  wolves  had  been 
getting  excessively  noisy  for  the  last  mile ;  and  to  the 
undescribable  horror  of  the  old  man,  he  could  hear  them 
gathering  about  him  in  the  crackling  bushes  on  either  side, 
as  they  ran  along  to  keep  pace  with  his  rapid  steps.  The 
woods  very  soon  seemed  to  the  old  man  to  be  literally  alive 
with  them,  as  they  gathered  in  yelling  packs  from  far  and 
near. 

Wolves  are  cautious  about  attacking  a  human  being  at 

29 


450  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

once,  but  usually  require  some  little  time  to  work  themselves 
up  to  the  point.  That  such  was  the  case,  now  proved  most 
luckj  for  poor  old  Dick,  who  began  to  realize  the  horrible 
danger,  as  a  dark  object  would  brush  past  his  legs  every 
few  moments,  with  a  snapping  sound  like  the  ring  of  a  steel 
trap ;  while  the  yells  and  patter  of  the  gathering  wolves 
increased  with  terrible  rapidity.  Dick  knew  enough  of  the 
habits  of  the  animal  to  be  fully  aware  that  to  run  would 
insure  his  instant  death,  as  the  cowardly  pack  would  be  sure 
to  set  upon  him  in  a  body  on  the  instant  of  observing  any 
such  indication  of  fear.  His  only  chance  was  to  keep  them 
at  bay  by  preserving  the  utmost  steadiness  until  he  could 
icach  the  open  ground  before  him,  when  he  hoped  they 
iright  leave  him,  as  they  do  not  like  to  attack  in  the  open 
rround.  He  remembered,  too,  that  an  old  hut  still  stood 
in  the  middle  of  the  clearing,  and  the  thought  that  he  might 
reach  that  haven  gave  him  some  comfort. 

The  wolves  were  becoming  more  audacious  every  minute, 
and  the  poor  old  soul  could  see  their  green  eyes  glaring 
fiery  death  upon  him  from  all  the  thickets  around.  They 
rushed  at  him  more  boldly  one  after  another,  snapping  as 
they  went  past  in  closer  and  closer  proximity  to  his  thin 
legs — indeed,  the  frightened  fiddler  instinctively  thrust  at 
them  with  his  fiddle  to  turn  them  aside.  In  doing  so  the 
strings  were  jarred,  and  the  despairing  wretch  took  on  some 
hope  to  his  shivering  soul,  when  he  observed  the  sudden- 
ness of  the  sound  caused  the  wolves  to  leap  aside  with 
surprise.  He  instantly  drew  his  hand  across  the  strings 
with  vehemence,  and  to  his  infinite  relief  they  sprang  back 
and  aside  as  if  he  had  shot  amongst  them.  Taking  imme- 
diate advantage  of  this  lucky  diversion  in  his  favor,  as  he 
had  now  reached  the  edge  of  the  clearing,  he  made  a  break 
for  the  hut,  raking  his  hand  across  the  fiddle  strings  at  every 
jump,  until  they  fairly  roared  again.  The  astonished  wolves 


THE   DARKIE   FIDDLER.  451 

paused  for  a  moment  on  the  edge  of  the  clearing  with  tails 
between  their  legs,  looking  after  him  ;  but  the  sight  of  his 
flying  form  renewed  at  once  their  savage  instincts,  and  with 
a  loud  burst  of  yells,  they  pursued  him  at  full  speed.  Alas 
for  the  unlucky  fiddler,  had  he  been  caught  now,  it  would 
have  been  all  up  with  him,  even  had  his  fiddle  continued  to 
shriek  more  unearthly  shrieks  than  that  of  Paganini  ever 
gave  forth.  He  had  broken  the  spell  by  running,  for  had 
they  caught  him  now,  they  would  never  have  paused  to 
listen,  had  he  been  an  Orpheus  in  reality. 

Luckily  the  old  man  reached  the  hut  just  as  they  were  at 
his  heels,  and  slamming  the  rickety  door  behind  him,  he  had 
time  to  climb  out  on  to  the  roof,  where  he  was  comparatively 
out  of  danger.  I  say  comparatively,  for  the  perch  he  now 
occupied,  was  too  rickety  to  make  it  any  thing  rather  than 
desirable,  except  by  contrast  with  the  immediate  condition 
from  .which  he  had  escaped. 

The  wolves  were  now  furious,  and  thronging  the  interior 
of  the  hut,  leaped  up  at  him  with  wild  yells  of  gnashing 
rage.  The  poor  old  sinner  was  horribly  frightened,  and 
it  required  the  utmost  activity  of  motion  to  keep  his  legs 
from  being  snapped  by  them.  Wild  with  the  agonized 
terror  as  he  was,  poor  old  Dick  had  managed  to  cling  to  his 
fiddle  through  it  all,  and  remembering  that  it  had  saved  him 
in  the  woods,  he  now,  with  the  sheer  energy  of  desperation, 
drew  his  bow  shrieking  across  the  strings,  with  a  sound  that 
rose  high  above  all  their  deafening  yells,  while,  with  his  feet 
kicking  out  into  the  air,  he  endeavored  to  avoid  their  steel -like 
fangs.  An  instant  silence  followed  this  sudden  outburst,  and 
Dick  continued  to  produce  such  frightful  spasms  of  sound  as 
his  hysterical  condition  conceived. 

This  outbreak  kept  the  wolves  quiet  for  a  moment  or  two, 
but  old  Dick  soon  learned  to  his  increased  horror  that  even 
wolves  are  too  fastidious  to  stand  bad  fiddling,  for  they  com- 


452  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

menced  a  renewal  of  the  attack,  as  soon  as  the  first  surprise 
was  over,  more  furiously  than  ever.  This  was  too  much  for 
the  poor  fiddler,  and  most  especially  when  the  head  of  a  great 
wolf  was  thrust  up  between  the  boards  of  the  roof,  within  a 
few  inches  of  where  he  sat.  He  gave  himself  up  now  for  a 
gone  darkie,  and  with  the  horrified  exclamation — 

"Bress  God! — who  dar  ?" 

He  fell  to  fiddling  Yankee  Doodle  with  all  his  might,  uncon- 
sciously, as  the  dying  swan  is  said  to  sing  its  own  requiem  in 
its  closing  moments.  With  the  first  notes  of  the  air  silence 
commenced ;  Orpheus  had  conquered !  the  brutes  owned  the 
U  Jvluing  spell,  and  the  terror-stricken  fiddler,  when  he  came 
to  himself — astonished  at  the  sudden  cessation  of  hostilities — 
saw  he  was  surrounded  by  the  most  attentive  and  certainly 
appreciative  audience  he  had  ever  played  before — for  the 
moment  there  was  the  slightest  cessation  of  the  music,  every 
listener  sprang  forward  to  renew  the  battle,  and  set  his.  pipe- 
stem  legs  to  flying  about  in  the  air  again. 

But  he  had  now  learned  the  spell,  and  so  long  as  he 
continued  to  play  with  tolerable  correctness,  was  compara- 
tively safe.  The  old  fiddler  soon  forgot  his  terror  now  in 
professional  pride,  for  he  was  decidedly  flattered  by  such 
intense  appreciation ;  and  entering  fully  into  the  spirit  of 
the  thing,  played  with  a  gusto  and  effect  such  as  he  thought 
he  had  never  before  surpassed  or  even  equalled.  Even  the 
wedding,  with  its  warm  lights,  its  sweetened  whiskey,  was 
forgotten  for  the  time  in  the  glow  of  this  new  professional 
triumph. 

But  all  pleasures  have  their  draw-backs  on  this  earth;  and 
as  time  progressed,  he  began,  with  all  his  enthusiasm,  to  feel 
very  natural  symptoms  of  cold,  fatigue,  and  even  exhaustion. 
But  it  would  not  do — lie  could  not  stop  a  moment  before  they 
were  at  him  again — and  there  they  persistently  sat,  that 
shaggy  troop  of  connoisseurs,  fidgeting  on  their  haunches, 


THE   DARKIE   FIDDLER.  453 

with  lolling  tongues  and  pricked  ears,  listening  to  their  com- 
pulsory charmer,  for  several  weary  hours,  until  the  negroes 
at  the  wedding,  becoming  impatient  or  alarmed  about  the  old 
man,  came  out  to  look  for  him,  and  found  him  thus  perched 
upon  the  roof  of  the  tottering  hut,  sawing  away  for  dear  life, 
while  he  was  ready  to  drop  every  instant  from  sheer  fatigue 
and  the  freezing  cold.  They  rescued  the  old  man  from  his 
comfortless  position,  while  the  lingering  forms  of  his  late 
audience  told  that  they  most  unwillingly  surrendered  the 
fruition  of  their  unwonted  feast. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

SKATER  CHASED  BY  WOLVES. 

EVERYBODY  has  read  the  remarkable  adventure  with  tho 
wolves  on  the  ice,  related  by  Mr.  Whitehead.  Tho  story  has 
made  so  strong  an  impression  upon  me,  that  I  cannot  resist 
the  temptation  of  preserving  it  here,  along  with  the  previous 
narrative,  as  incidental  to  our  "Wild  Scenes,"  entirely  legiti- 
mate here.  I  present  it  with  an  illustration,  as  one  of  tin 
most  effective  stories  ever  given  about  wolves. 

During  the  winter  of  1844,  being  engaged  in  the  northern 
part  of  Maine,  I  had  much  leisure  to  devote  to  the  wild  sportj 
of  a  new  country.  To  none  of  these  was  I  more  passionately 

454 


SKATER  CHASED  BY  WOLVES.  455 

addicted  than  to  skating.  The  deep  and  sequestered  lakes 
of  this  State,  frozen  by  the  intense  cold  of  a  northern  winter, 
present  a  wide  field  to  the  lovers  of  this  pastime.  Often 
would  I  bind  on  my  skates,  and  glide  away  up  the  glittering 
river  and  wind  each  mazy  streamlet  that  flowed  beneath  its 
f«:tLT8  on  toward  the  parent  ocean,  forgetting  all  the  while 
time  and  distance  in  the  luxurious  sense  of  the  gliding  motion 
— thinking  of  nothing  in  the  easy  flight,  but  rather  dreaming, 
as  I  looked  through  the  transparent  ice  at  the  long  weeds 
and  cresses  that  nodded  in  the  current  beneath,  and  seemed 
wrestling  with  the  wave  to  let  them  go ;  or  I  would  follow 
the  track  of  some  fox  or  otter,  and  run  my  skate  along  the 
mark  he  had  left  with  .his  dragging  tail  until  the  trail  would 
enter  the  woods.  Sometimes  these  excursions  were  made  by 
moonlight ;  and  it  was  on  one  of  these  occasions  that  I  had  a 
rencontre  which  even  now,  with  kind  faces  around  me,  I 
cannot  recall  without  a  nervous  looking-over-my-shoulder 
feeliig. 

I  had  left  my  friend's  house  one  evening  just  before  dusk, 
with  th.9  intention  of  skating  a  short  distance  up  the  noble 
Kennebec,  which  glided  directly  before  the  door.  The  night 
was  beautifully  clear.  A  peerless  moon  rode  through  an 
occasional  fleecy  cloud,  and  stars  twinkled  from  the  sky  and 
from  every  frost-covered  tree  in  millions.  Your  mind  would 
wonder  at  the  light  that  came  glinting  from  ice,  and  snow- 
wreath,  and  incrusted  branches,  as  the  eye  followed  for  miles 
the  broad  gleam  of  the  Kennebec,  that  like  a  jeweled  zone 
swept  between  the  mighty  forests  on  its  banks.  And  yet  all 
was  still.  The  cold  seemed  to  have  frozen  tree,  and  air,  and 
water,  ana  every  living  thing  that  moved.  Even  the  ringing 
of  my  skates  echoed  back  from  the  Moccasin  Hill  with  a 
startling  clearness,  and  the  crackle  of  the  ice  as  I  passed 
over  it  in  my  course  seemed  to  follow  the  tide  of  the  river 
with  lightning  speed. 

I  had  gone  up  the  river  nearly  two  miles,  when  coming  to 


456  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

a  little  stream  which  empties  into  the  larger,  I  turned  into  it 
to  explore  its  course.  Fir  and  hemlock  of  a  century's  growth 
met  overhead,  and  formed  an  archway  radiant  with  frost- 
work. All  was  dark  within  ;  but  I  was  young  and  fearless, 
and,  as  I  peered  into  an  unbroken  forest,  that  reared  itself 
on  the  borders  of  the  stream,  I  laughed  with  very  joyous- 
ness  ;  my  wild  hurrah  rang  through  the  silent  woods,  and  I 
stood  listening  to  the  echo  thalfrevcrberated  again  and  again, 
until  all  was  hushed.  Suddenly  a  sound  arose — it  seemed  to 
me  to  come  from  beneath  the  ice ;  it  sounded  low  and  tremu- 
lous at  first,  until  it  ended  in  one  wild  yell.  I  was  appalled. 
Never  before  had  such  a  noise  met  my  ears.  I  thought  it 
more  than  mortal ;  so  fierce,  and  amidst  such  an  unbroken 
solitude,  it  seemed  as  though  a  fiend  had  blown  a  blast  from 
an  infernal  trumpet.  Presently  I  heard  the  twigs  on  shore 
crack  as  though  from  the  tread  of  some  brute  animal,  and 
the  blood  rushed  back  to  my  forehead  with  a  bound  that 
made  my  skin  burn,  and  I  felt  relieved  that  I  had  to  contend 
with  things  earthly,  and  not  of  spiritual  nature — my  energies 
returned,  and  I  looked  around  me  for  some  means  of  escape. 

The  moon  shone  through  the  opening  at  the  mouth  of  the 
creek  by  which  I  had  entered  the  forest,  and  considering  this 
the  best  means  of  escape,  I  darted  towards  it  like  an  arrow. 
'Twas  hardly  a  hundred  yards  distant,  and  the  swallow  could 
scarcely  excel  my  desperate  flight ;  yet,  as  I  turned  my  head 
to  the  shore,  I  could  see  two  dark  objects  dashing  through 
the  underbrush  at  a  pace  nearly  double  in  speed  to  my  own. 
By  this  great  speed,  and  the  short  yells  which  they 
occasionally  gave,  I  knew  at  once  that  these  were  the  much 
dreaded  gray  wolves. 

I  had  never  met  with  these  animals,  but  from  the  descrip- 
tion given  of  them,  I  had  but  little  pleasure  in  making  their 
acquaintance.  Their  untameable  fierceness,  and  the  untiring 
strength  which  seems  part  of  their  nature,  render  them 
objects  of  dread  to  every  benighted  traveller. 


SKATER  CHASED  BY  WOLVES.  457 

"With  their  long  gallop,  vhich  can  tire 
The  deer-hound's  hate,  the  hunter's  ire," 

they  pursue  their  prey — never  straying  from  the  track  of 
their  victim — and  as  the  wearied  hunter  thinks  that  he  has 
at  last  outstripped  them,  he  finds  that  they  but  waited  for 
the  evening  to  seize  their  prey,  and  falls  a  prize  to  the  tireless 
animals. 

The  bushes  that  skirted  the  shore  flew  past  with  the 
velocity  of  lightning,  as  I  dashed  on  in  my  flight  to  pass 
the  narrow  opening.  The  outlet  was  nearly  gained ;  one 
second  more  and  I  would  be  comparatively  safe,  when  my 
pursuers  appeared  on  the  bank  above  me,  which  here  rose 
to  the  height  of  ten  feet.  There  was  no  time  for  thought,  so 
I  bent  my  head  and  dashed  madly  forward.  The  wolves 
sprang,  but  miscalculating  my  speed,  fell  behind,  Avhile  their 
intended  prey  glided  out  upon  the  river. 

Nature  turned  me  towards  home.  The  light  flakes  of 
snow  spun  from  the  iron  of  my  skates,  and  I  was  some 
distance  from  my  pursuers,  when  their  fierce  howl  told  me 
I  was  still  their  fugitive.  I  did  not  look  back,  I  did  not 
feel  afraid,  or  sorry,  or  glad;  one  thought  of  home,  of  the 
bright  faces  awaiting  my  return,  and  of  their  tears  if  they 
never  should  see  me,  and  then  every  energy  of  body  and 
mind  were  exerted  for  escape.  I  was  perfectly  at  horse  on 
the  ice.  Many  were  the  days  that  I  spent  on  my  good 
skates,  never  thinking  that  at  one  time  they  would  be  my 
only  means  of  safety.  Every  half  minute  an  alternate  yelp 
from  my  fierce  attendants  made  me  but  too  certain  that  they 
were  in  close  pursuit.  Nearer  and  nearer  they  came ;  I 
heard  their  feet  pattering  on  the  ice  nearer  still,  until  I 
could  feel  their  breath  and  hear  their  snuffing  scent.  Every 
nerve  and  muscle  in  my  frame  was  stretched  to  the  utmost 
tension. 

The  trees  along  the  shore  seemed  to  dance  in  an  uncc:tfiin 
light,  and  my  brain  turned  with  my  own  breathless  speed, 


458  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTEKS. 

vet  still  they  seemed  to  hiss  forth  their  hreath  with  a  sound 
truly  horrible,  when  an  involuntary  motion  on  my  part, 
turned  me  out  of  my  course.  The  wolves,  close  behind, 
unable  to  stop,  and  as  unable  to  turn  on  the  smooth  ice, 
slipped  and  fell,  still  going  on  far  ahead ;  their  tongues  were 
lolling  out,  their  white  tusks  glaring  from  their  bloody 
mouths,  their  dark,  shaggy  breasts  were  fleeced  with  foam, 
and  as  they  passed  me,  their  eyes  glared,  and  they  howled 
with  fury.  The  thought  flashed  on  my  mind,  that  by  this 
means  I  could  avoid  them,  viz :  by  turning  aside  whenever 
they  came  too  near ;  for  they,  by  the  formation  of  their  feet; 
are  unable  to  run  on  ice  except  in  a  straight  line. 

I  immediately  acted  upon  this  plan.  The  wolves,  having 
regained  their  feet,  sprang  directly  towards  me.  The  race 
was  renewed  for  twenty  yards  up  the  stream ;  they  were 
already  close  on  my  back,  Avhen  I  glided  round  and  dashed 
directly  past  my  pursuers.  A  fierce  yell  greeted  my  evolu- 
tion, and  the  wolves,  slipping  upon  their  haunches,  sailed 
onward,  presenting  a  perfect  picture  of  helplessness  and 
baffled  rage.  Thus  I  gained  nearly  a  hundred  yards  at 
each  turning.  This  was  repeated  two  or  three  times,  every 
moment  the  animals  getting  more  excited  and  baffled. 

At  one  time,  by  delaying  my  turning  too  long,  my  sangui- 
nary antagonists  came  so  near  that  they  threw  the  white 
foam  over  my  dress  as  they  sprang  to  seize  me,  and  their 
teeth  clashed  together  like  the  spring  of  a  fox-trap.  Had 
my  skates  failed  for  one  instant,  had  I  tripped  on  a  stick, 
or  caught  my  foot  in  a  fissure  of  the  ice,  the  story  I  am  now 
telling  would  never  have  been  tola. 

1  thought  all  the  chances  over ;  I  knew  where  they  would 
first  take  hold  of  me  if  I  fell ;  I  thought  how  long  it  would 
be  before  I  died,  and  then  there  would  be  a  search  for  the 
body  that  would  already  have  its  tomb ;  for  oh  !  how  fast 
man's  mind  traces  out  all  the  dread  colors  of  death's  picture, 
only  those  who  have  been  near  the  grim  original  can  tell. 


SKATER  CHASED  BY  WOLVES.  459 

But  I  soon  came  opposite  the  house,  and  my  hounds — I 
knew  their  deep  voices — roused  by  the  noise,  bayed  furiously 
from  the  kennels.  I  heard  their  chains  rattle :  how  I  wished 
they  would  break  them !  and  then  I  should  have  protectors 
that  would  be  peers  to  the  fiercest  denizens  of  the  forest. 
The  wolves  taking  the  hint  conveyed  by  the  dogs,  stopped 
in  their  mad  career,  and  after  a  moment's  consideration, 
turned  and  fled.  I  watched  them  until  their  forms  disappeared 
over  a  neighboring  hill,  then  taking  off  my  skates,  wended 
i)  y  way  to  the  house,  with  feelings  which  may  be  better 
imagined  than  described.  But  even  yet  I  never  see  a  broad 
sheet  of  ice  in  the  moon-shine,  without  thinking  of  that 
snufllng  breath  and  those  fearful  things  that  followed  me  so 
d.-icly  down  the  frozen  Kennebec. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  MUSTANG,  OR  WILD  HORSE. 

"  Round-hoof  'd,  short-jointed,  fetlocks  shag  and  long, 
Broad  breast,  full  eye,  small  head  and  nostrils  -wide, 
High  crest,  short  ears,  straight  legs,  and  passing  strong, 
Thin  mane,  thick  tail,  broad  buttock,  tender  hide — 
Look  what  a  horse  should  have!" 

"  LOOK  what  a  horse  should  have  !"  "Willie  of  Avon  being 
judge !  and  acknowledge,  gentle  sportsman,  that  the  wild, 
rattling,  poacher  scamp  had  as  sharp  an  eye  for  the  parts 
of  the  noble  animal  on  four  legs,  as  he  exhibited  in  his 
rpiritual  anatomy  of  the  animal  on  two.  Can  any  of  you 
\'eat  that  with  all  your  modern  breeding,  in  and  out,  crossings 
and  improvements  ?  Can  even  the  Napoleon  of  the  turf 
himself  suggest  an  addition  or  subtraction  to  or  from  this 
masterly  summary  of  what  the  "horse"  should  be? — not 
the  draught-horse,  the  race-horse,  the  saddle-horse,  the  hunt- 
ing-horse, the  trotter  or  the  pacer ! — but  the  nonpareil, — 
uniting  in  himself  the  nearest  approach  to  the  perfection  of 
all  these ! 

"But,"  says  the  gent.,  "deuce  take  it!  where  are  you 
[King  to  find  such  a  horse,  now  you've  got  him  described? 
li/s  like  shaking  a  basket  of  spring  strawberries  under  the 
nose  of  a  convalescing  man,  and  then  pleading  the  doctor 
on  him,  to  tantalize  us  by  dilating  upon  Shakspcare's  ideal, 
when  such  an  animal  has  long  since  been  crossed  and  trained 
out  of  being !" 

Very  true,  sir!  very  true!  "The  horse,"  with  his  exube- 
rance of  power  and  unity  of  splendid  traits,  is  ruled  down. 

460 


THE  MUSTANG,  OR  WILD  HORSE.          461 

now  into  "strains"  of  a  single  characteristic, — his  parts  and 
paces  determined  with  mathematical  certainty  before  he  is 
foaled.  Though  there  is  a  great  deal  gained  in  convenience 
by  this,  there  is  more  lost  in  the  general  excellence  and 
nobility  of  the  animal.  We  need  to  recur  again  occasionally 
to  the  primeval  horse  to  throw  a  dash  of  freedom  into  the 
hard  lines  of  our  too  strictly  ruled  strains ;  to  find  this,  we 
shall  probably  always  go  back  to  the  Arab  on  his  yellow 
sands.  While  I  admit  this  to  be  the  true  mine  of  the 
"porcelain  earth"  for  the  horse  manufacture,  I  am  astonished 
that  our  American  breeders  have  paid  so  little  attention  to 
a  "  chip  of  the  same  grit"  we  have  nearer  home.  I  refer 
to  the  mustang,  or  wild  horse  of  our  great  prairies. 

A  very  common  and  natural  misapprehension  exists  with 
regard  to  the  value  of  the  mustang,  from  the  fact  that  it  is 
only  the  inferior  animals  of  a  drove  that  are  taken,  as  a 
general  thing ;  and  again,  that  the  hunters  always  keep  the 
finest  themselves,  and  send  in  the  trifling  ones  to  trade  off 
to  the  settlements ;  and  it  is  only  such  as  these  we  ever  get 
a  sight  off,  unless  we  make  a  trip  to  the  Rocky  Mountains 
or  California  in  person  !  But  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose 
that  all  mustangs  are  like  the  long-headed,  donkey-tempered, 
spindle-shanked,  Dwarfish  creatures  we  see  occasionally  in 
the  country. 

It  would  be  just  as  wise  to  judge  the  stock  in  our  racing 
stables  by  some  pot-bellied,  shag-haired,  scrub  colt  we  might 
chance  to  stumble  upon,  picking  the  short  grass  along  with 
the  pigs  in  a  country  lane,  as  to  form  an  opinion  of  the  wild 
horse  as  he  is,  fetterless  and  proud,  upon  his  boundless 
plains,  from  these  miserable  specimens.  You  must  recollect 
that  the  best  are  not  to  be  taken  every  day;  that  their 
liability  to  capture  is  exactly  proportionate  to  their  want 
cf  speed,  under  the  most  usual  method  of  securing  them  with 
tL )  lasso!  For  this  to  be  done,  you  are  aware  he  has  to 
be  fairly  run  upon  by  the  hunter,  with  a  start  of  a  mile  or 


462  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

two,  sometimes;  and  the  animal  overtaken  with  such  odd3 
must  be  immensely  inferior  to  the  one  in  pursuit ! 

So  far  is  the  fact  of  this  inferiority  from  being  found  to 
exist  in  the  case  of  the  finest  of  them,  that  I  have  known 
instances  of  mustangs  being  chased  for  three  or  four  days 
together,  all  the  time,  night  and  day,  with  fresh  horses  put 
in  every  four  or  five  hours,  and  yet  without  any  sensible 
flagging  of  their  speed ;  without  their  having  been  sufficiently 
pushed  to  prevent  them  from  stopping  occasionally  to  graze 
arid  drink.  Their  great  powers  of  endurance  will  not  be 
particularly  wondered  at,  when  you  remember  the  history 
of  their  origin. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  the  adventurers,  who,  lured  by 
the  golden  romance  the  stories  of  the  earliest  navigators  had 
thrown  over  the  New  World,  had  been  induced  to  attach 
themselves  to  the  expedition  of  Cortez,  were  cavaliers,  the 
dissolute  and  spendthrift  sons  of  the  noble  families  of  Spain, 
who  expecting  to  retrieve  their  desperate  fortunes  by  the 
realization  of  enormous  wealth,  strained  the  credit  of  their 
friends  to  the  last  pitch  that  they  might  equip  themselves 
with  a  splendor  worthy  of  their  rank,  and  the  glory  of  such 
an  enterprise. 

Those  were  the  palmy  days  of  Spanish  power,  and  her 
nobility  could  command  the  choicest  resources  of  the  Old 
World ;  and  haughty  and  luxurious  as  they  were,  of  course 
nothing  short  of  the  purest  and  far-descended  blood  of 
Barbary  and  the  Deserts  could  prance  beneath  their  purple 
housings.  Steeds,  whose  descent,  could  we  believe  the  quaint 
old  chroniclers  of  the  time,  might  be  traced,  without  a  spot 
or  blemish,  back  to  the  veritable  pair  who  shook  the  big 
drops  of  the  Flood  from  their  manes,  and  breasted  its  devour- 
ing waves  successfully,  were  the  companions  of  the  mad-cap 
coxcombs  on  their  perilous  voyage. 

You  will  remember  their  appearance  on  horseback  alarmed 
the  simple  natives  more  than  even  their  pale  faces  and 


THE  MUSTANG,  OR  WILD  HORSE.          4G3 

thunder.  They  considered  horse  and  rider  as  one  animal, — 
like  the  Centaur  of  the  Greek,  a  supernatural  one, — and 
sent  them  human  victims  for  food,  to  propitiate  their  wrath. 
These  facts  all  prove  that  there  was  not  even  a  tradition  of 
the  existence  of  such  an  animal  on  our  hemisphere  at  that 
time. 

It  will  be  recollected,  finally,  that  led  on  by  a  remorseless 
avarice,  which  even  the  palace  halls  of  the  Montezuma,  heaped 
to  the  ceiling  with  ingots  of  gold,  could  not  touch,  they 
penetrated  far  into  the  interior,  in  the  fantastic  search  of 
mountains,  whose  rocks  were  of  the  precious  metal  without 
alloy ;  and  rivers,  whose  beds  were  amethyst,  and  pearl,  and 
glittering  dust ;  and  that  instead  of  the  realization  of  these 
gorgeous  fancies,  they  met  with  fierce  tribes  amidst  the 
crags  and  valleys,  who  cut  them  to  pieces.  But  as  these 
warlike  men  exhibited  the  same  terror  and  astonishment  at 
the  sight  of  the  horse,  the  gallant  beasts,  as  their  riders 
fell,  were  permitted  by  the  superstitious  conquerors  to  gallop 
away  for  a  new  life  of  freedom  upon  the  wide  savannahs  below. 

There  were  several  entire  parties  of  the  cavaliers  killed 
to  a  man,  by  these  mountain  hordes,  all  of  whose  horses 
escaped.  These  bounded  away  joyfully,  with  neighings, 
until  they  reached  the  luxuriant  pasture  of  the  plains,  and 
then  fell  to  work  to  multiply  and  replenish. 

From  this  royal  lineage  the  wild  horse  of  both  continents 
has  undoubtedly  descended.  They  spread  gradually  from 
the  pampas  of  California  to  the  bleak  and  sterile  ridges  of 
Canada,  where  starvation  and  the  cold  dwindled  them  down 
to  the  shaggy  pine-knot  of  a  pony,  retaining  still  the  bright, 
prominent  eye,  and  devilish,  indomitable  spirit  of  their 
ancestry.  So  that  you  see  the  pedigree  of  the  mustang  is 
more  immaculate  than  that  of  the  proudest  winner  of  a 
hundred  fields.  But,  independent  of  these  historical  facts, 
no  man  who  is  familiar  with  the  Arab  can  cast  his  eye  over 


464  "WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD  HUNTERS. 

a  "  Cavayard"  of  Mexican  mares,  who  are  unadulterated 
mustangs,  without  being  instantly  struck  by  the  remarkable 
resemblance  between  the  two  races. 

You  see  there  the  same  long,  and  rather  angular  outline ; 
the  same  thin,  wavy  mane,  sometimes  from  two  to  three  feet 
in  length;  the  same  silky  coat;  the  same  round,  flat  hoof, 
the  bushy  fetlock,  and  the  spur  distinctly  defined ;  the  same 
round,  straight  fore-leg  and  short  pasterns;  the  same  gray- 
hound  hams,  and  somewhat  ragged  hips ;  the  same  short 
coupling;  the  same  fine  ear,  thin  head,  rather  lengthened 
for  symmetry ;  wide,  elastic  nostrils,  and  deep  mouth ;  but 
foremost  of  all,  the  prominent  socket ;  the  wide-open  lid, 
the  large  eye-ball,  lit  with  a  tameless,  but  not  vicious  fire, 
with  its  free  play  showing  the  broad  stripe  of  creamy  white ; 
and  when  they  drink,  which  they  do  but  once  a  day,  the 
same  trick  of  plunging  the  nostrils  up  to  the  eyes  in  the 
water,  and  swallowing  with  huge  gulphs. 

Then  mount  one,  and  if  you  can  stick  there,  you  will 
find  the  analogy  fully  sustained.  Day  after  day,  in  a  long, 
springy  gallop,  it  will  carry  you  eighty -or  a  hundred  miles, 
for  weeks  together,  with  scarcely  a  perceptible  diminution  of 
spirit  or  vigor,  and  requiring  nothing  with  all  this  but  a  long 
draught  of  cool,  clear  water,  and  the  grass  of  the  prairies. 

This  is  the  mustang  as  he  really  is ;  as  he  is  to  be  seen  in 
thousands  multiplied,  upon  the  ocean-like  meadows  of  the 
great  South- West !  But  such  specimens  as  this  are  to  be 
seldom  seen  off  his  native  wilds,  for  the  reason  I  have 
given  above ;  and  which  must  be  self-evident,  that  he  is 
seldom  taken,  and  \vhen  he  has  been,  is  far  too  valuable  to 
the  hunter  to  be  parted  with.  Mounted  upon  these  magni- 
ficent animals,  they  take  in  hundreds  the  stunted,  vicious 
little  devils  that  have  given  reputation  to  the  mustang 
among  us ! 

Like  human  hunchbacks  these  creatures  seem  to  become 


THE  MUSTANG,  OR  WILD  HORSE.          465 

splenetic,  and  unconquerably  ill-grained,  in  a  ratio  equal 
th.ir  declension  from  the  full  standard  of  proportion  and 
po-rer. 

The  cavayards  of  the  Rio  Grande  valley  and  California, 
aro  composed  sometimes  of  a  thousand  mares  and  eight  or 
ten  studs,  by  whom  the  females  are  divided  into  families  of 
from  eighty  to  a  hundred  and  twenty,  the  number  a  good 
des.1  regulated  by  their  individual  prowess.  For  wars  of 
jea?  ;us  rivalry  are  incessantly  occurring  among  them,  and 
who  that  is  best  able  to  protect  his  concubines  has  most  of 
thru.  They  sometimes  have  very  furious  battles  with  the 
wO  asses  of  the  country,  from  which  they  generally  come 
off  worst.  These  are  most  merciless  ravishers ;  and  after 
hav':ig  frequently  killed,  or  entirely  used  up  the  stallions, 
th "j  will  scatter  the  cavayard  so  that  they  can  never  be  got 
together  again. 

The  mares,  which  have  all  been  disabled  from  running  fast 
by  a  cruel  practice  on-  the  part  of  their  owners,  of  severing 
one  of  the  tendons  at  the  knee,  cannot  escape  from  these 
ferocious  gallants,  who,  more  inexorable  than  the  "  Old  Man 
of  the  Sea"  of  Sindbad,  will  cling  to  them  for  days  till  their 
object  be  accomplished,  through  sheer  exhaustion  on  the 
part  of  the  victim.  The  produce  of  this  connection 

"Who  in  the  lusty  stealth  of  nature  take 
More  composition  and  fierce  quality — • 

is  a  clean-limbed,  vigorous,  powerful  animal.  Indeed,  the 
mule  thus  bred  is,  immeasurably,  far  the  most  active,  spirited, 
swift  and  enduring  of  all  the  long-eared  genus.  They  are 
not  so  heavy -boned  as  the  Kentucky  mules,  but  they  can 
kill  two  or  three  of  them  as  travellers,  and  are  really  most 
delightful  animals  for  the  saddle ;  and  being  high  before, 
with  light  heads,  some  of  them  are  very  handsome,  and  quite 
the  average  height  of  our  saddle  horses. 

As  our  hemisphere  is  indebted  to  the  priest  accompanying 

30 


466  WILD    SCENES   AND    WILD    HUNTERS. 

Cortez  for  the  ass,  as  it  is  to  the  cavaliers  for  the  horse, 
it  affords  quite  a  suspicious  comment  upon  the  morals  of 
the  reverend  fraternity  that  their  brute  representatives  s^ou'.d 
inherit  such  carnal  propensities,  and  disturb  the  solitudes 
of  nature  even  to  this  late  day  by  so  obstreporous  disp*«^s 
of  them  ! 

These  mules  approach  nearly  in  temper  and  form  to  the 
horse.  I  speak  of  the  finest  of  them,  of  course,  for  Ocy 
are  very  heely,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  the  mustang^  ere 
seldom  captured.  You  never  see  a  drove  of  mustangs  without 
a  considerable  proportion  of  mules  among  them ;  which  £pes 
to  prove  that  the  wild  ass  plays  a  consistent  game  wilh.  hia 
peer,  the  wild  stallion;  and,  indeed,  it  is  no  unusual  thi';g  to 
come  across  them  in  the  spring  and  fall  engaged  in  most 
desperate  contests.  The  method  of  managing  these  duclloes 
is  rather  a  comical  one  on  the  part  of  the  ass. 

I  once  had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  an  "  affair"  of 
the  kind,  which  was  something  after  this  fashion.  Th  ;  ass 
was  his  own  trumpeter,  and  announced  his  approach  from 
afar  with  the  euphoneous  and  car-splitting  symphony  for 
which  ho  is  so  famous  the  world  over.  The  ladies  of  the 
herd  seemed  to  be  thrown  into  great  consternation  by  this 
ferociously  amatory  prelude,  and  rushed  t.gethcr  in  a  trem- 
bling crowd  around  their  rightful  lord  for  protection.  He, 
extricating  himself  and  shaking  his  streaming  mane  upon 
the  winds,  with  a  disdainful  toss  of  his  fine  crest,  gallops 
out  in  front  to  meet  his  vulgar  and  boisterous  enemy — who, 
with  his  wide  jaws  distended,  in  a  very  paroxysm  of  harmo- 
nious delivery,  comes  tearing  on  with  headlong  violence. 
The  chivalrous  stallion  receives  him  with  a  salute  from  his 
heels  that  fairly  rings  again  upon  his  hard  shaggy  limbs — 
this  compliment,  which  would  seem  to  have  been  sufficient 
to  have  shaken,  if  not  overturned  a  stout-sized  barn — has 
not  the  effect  of  even  checking  the  impetus  of  the  uncouth 
foe,  who  rushes  on,  his  mouth  still  open,  right  at  the  throat 


THE  MUSTANG,  OR  WILD  HORSE.          467 

of  the  generous  steed,  thus  breaking  through  his  "guard," 
and  fastening  those  massive  distended  clamps  upon  his  wind- 
pipe, hangs  there  like  a  hull-dog. 

Then  comes  a  sudden  silence,  and  the  frightened  dames, 
their  hodies  clustered  together  as  close  as  they  can  crowd, 
their  heads  all  turned  toward  the  combatants,  stare  in  trem- 
bling terror  at  the  death-struggle.  Many  a  frantic  plunge 
the  poor  horse  makes — but  all  the  lithe  vigor  of  his  polished 
limbs  avails  him  nothing — now  rearing  erect  in  the  despera- 
tion of  his  agony,  he  clatters  his  fore  hoofs  upon  the  tough 
shoulders  of  his  assailant,  but  they  make  about  as  much 
impression  there,  as  they  would  have  done  upon  the  trunk 
of  a  live  oak.  Now,  with  every  muscle  strained,  and  the 
big  veins  almost  bursting  through  his  delicate  skin,  he 
springs  wildly  forward  into  the  air  as  though  he  would 
bound  clear  over  the  ugly  brute ;  but  no — with  a  stolid 
and  passive  sturdiness,  he  hangs  on,  until,  at  last,  all  his 
nighty  strength  expended  in  vain  but  furious  strugglings, 
with  a  deep  smothered  groan,  the  noble  stallion  falls  heavily 
upon  his  side.  And  now  the  rude  conqueror  condescends  to 
quit  his  hold,  and  with  his  bloody  jaws  distended  in  a  still 
louder  bray  of  triumph,  he  rushes  at  the  shivering  squad  of 
mares  !  And  such  a  scatterment !  Like  mad,  they  rush  off 
in  every  direction — he  right  upon  their  heels  !  Soon  he 
closes  with  some  wretched  unfortunate,  and  then  comes 
another  frantic  struggle  between  savage  lust  and  fear. 

The  battles  between  the  stallions  though,  are  gallant 
displays  of  graceful  and  splendid  action — they  rear  and 
wrestle  like  the  athlete  of  olden  time — their  long  and 
silky  manes  dishevelled — their  large  eye-balls  suffused  and 
red,  glowing  with  angry  fires — their  pied  and  glossy  coats 
stained  with  blood  upon  the  milk  white  ground,  and  gleaming 
with  the  rapid  play  of  agile  limbs.  Mr.  Miller,  our  artist, 
who  took  the  sketch  of  the  scene  we  give,  on  the  spot, 


468  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

through  a  glass,  has  presented  rather,  the  grace  and  playful 
action  of  their  lives,  than  this  fierce  scene. 

The  colors  of  the  mustang  are  surpassingly  rich  and 
beautiful.  They  are  all  intense  and  decided.  You  will 
find  them  white  as  the  driven  snow,  without  a  dark  hair  on 
their  bodies;  and  again,  black  as  the  concentrated  essence 
of  midnight — the  sunbeams 

"  Smoothing  the  ebon  down  of  darkness  till  it  smiled," 

at  every  movement  of  their  buoyant  humors ;  then  a  deep 
blood  bay,  with  black  mane  and  tail,  or  a  rich  red  sorrel. 
Again,  you  find  these  dark  colors  mottled  in  clear  relief 
upon  the  pure  white.  The  effect  is  sometimes  exquisite 
beyond  description.  I  have  seen  them  "  spotted  like  a 
Pard,"  and  marked  in  elegant  rosettes  like  the  skin  of  the 
African  panther.  The  startling  contrast  of  these  deep  colors, 
in  graceful  lines,  banded  and  star'd,  flecked  and  dotted,  upon 
the  snowy  ground,  is  above  the  "  Ken  of  Fancie,"  beautiful. 

The  Comanches — Nomadic  tribes,  who  from  their  mountain 
fastness  descend  upon  the  plains  below  for  plunder — like 
birds  of  prey  stooping  from  their  eyries,  are  mounted  upon 
the  finest  specimens  of  these  horses  that  are  to  be  found, 
and  with  such  rapidity  do  they  move,  that  they  will  traverse 
hundreds  of  miles,  carrying  death  and  fear  with  them  along 
a  whole  frontier,  and  yet  retreat  to  their  rocky  holds  in 
safety  before  the  inhabitants  can  organize  a  pursuit. 

The  warriors  have  a  great  passion  for  these  "  paint  horses" 
as  they  are  called,  and  if  I  live  to  the  age  of  Methuselah,  I 
shall  never  forget  the  picturesque  appearance  of  a  party  of 
twenty  of  them  we  pursued  once  for  fifteen  miles,  all  of 
whom  were  mounted  upon  fancifully  mottled  horses.  Over 
the  prairie  and  through  the  deep  woods  we  scurried  in  that 
wild  desperate  chase — the  dark  gaunt  savage  forms  on  their 
Bnowy  and  freckled  steeds,  now  and  then  to  be  seen  ahead 


THE  MUSTANG,  OR  WILD  HORSE.          469 

of  us,  glancing  past  the  leafy  trunks  of  the  great  trees — 
now  in  a  line  like  a  great  spotted  snake,  arrowy  gliding  over 
the  green  sea  of  grass. 

They  had  run  their  horses  nearly  forty  miles  before  we 
got  on  their  trail,  and  yet  our  American  horses,  which  were 
perfectly  fresh,  were  thoroughly  used  up  before  we  closed 
with  them — but  "thereby  hangs  a  tale,"  touching  and  strange, 
indeed — which  we  cannot  stop  here  to  tell. 

The  incident  strikingly  illustrates  though,  the  wonderful 
powers  of  this  animal. 

The  bearing  of  the  stallions  toward  their  families  is  the 
very  ideal  of  chivalry — each  one  seems  to  consider  himself 
solely  responsible  for  the  safety  of  those  he  has  taken  under 
his  protection.  He  is  always  on  the  alert — feeding  apart 
from  them  on  the  highest  ground,  his  watchful  survey — every 
moment  or  two  scans  the  horizon,  and  if  any  thing  suspicious 
is  detected,-  off  he  dashes,  fearless  in  his  might  and  speed, 
and  circling  around  the  doubtful  object  till  he  has  determined 
its  character — if  it  be  an  enemy,  his  trumpet  neigh  gives 
warning  to  his  dames,  who  have  been  quietly  feeding  all  this 
time,  to  be  off  upon  their  flight !  while  he,  with  proud  curvet 
ings,  follows  on  as  if  half  determined  not  to  fly  at  an, 
"sometimes  he  trots  as  though  he  told  his  steps,"  facing 
back  towards  his  pursuer,  while 

"  His  nostrils  drink  the  air,  and  forth  again, 
As  from  a  furnace,  vapors  doth  he  send." 

And  when  a  long  look  and  the  nearer  approach  of  the  enemy 
has  satisfied  his  curiosity,  wheeling  again,  he  flies  with  sur- 
passing speed  and  louder  neighing  after  his  retreating  herd — 
while 

"  Through  his  mane  and  tail  the  high  wind  sighs, 
Fanning  the  hairs,  who  wave  like  feathered  wings." 

It  is  a  very  common  thing,  when  the  hunters  with  the 
lasso  dash  in  among  the  herd,  for  these  gallant  fellows  to 
injure  them  or  their  horses  seriously,  by  kicking  and  biting 


470  WILD    SCENES    AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

them.  The  hunters  seldom  venture  upon  the  experiment 
of  lassoing  them,  for  the  moment  an  old  stallion  feels  the 
lasso  upon  his  neck  he  will  rush  at  the  man  and  tear  him 
from  his  seat.  I  knew  an  instance  in  which  a  Mexican 
was  maimed  for  life.  Some  of  these  stallions  are  very 
famous  for  their  incredible  swiftness,  beauty  and  endurance. 
The  hunters  know  their  color,  their  fine  parts  and  haunts 
as  well  as  they  know  the  features  of  the  Pilot  Knobs. 

You  all  remember  Kendall's  fine  description  of  the  "white 
steed  of  the  prairies,"  so  remarkable  for  his  pace  that  no 
hunter  had  ever  yet  been  able  to  make  him  break  it !  I  had 
often  heard  of  the  same  animal  from  them,  and  what  is  a 
curious  coincidence,  all  the  white  mustangs  I  have  ever  seen 
are  natural  pacers. 

There  is  another  animal  even  more  magnificent  than  these, 
frequenting  the  plains  west  of  San  Antonia.  I  had  a  good 
opportunity  of  seeing  this  fellow,  and  was  one  of  a  party 
that  chased  him  for  several  days,  in  the  effort  to  run  him 
down  that  we  might  "  pen"  him,  the  only  method  of  hunting 
them  which  is  ever  successful  in  securing  one  of  the  splendid 
creatures.  But  we  must  defer  the  story  for  another  time. 

The  code  in  these  herds  is  a  very  imperious  one.  Rivalry 
is  not  submitted  to  from  any  quarter.  As  soon  as  the  stud 
colts  begin  to  "  feel  themselves"  they  are  most  unceremoniously 
banished  by  the  old  patriarch.  They  then  lead  a  solitary 
life  for  several  years,  until  feeling  confident  in  their  strength, 
they  dash  into  the  nearest  herd,  and  if  they  should  prove 
able,  whip  off  the  leader  and  take  possession  of  his  seraglio. 

In  passing  those  prairies  diversified  like  old  English  parks 
with  a  cluster  of  timber  here,  and  a  huge  moss-hung  live-oak 
there,  I  have  frequently  been  amused  by  the  disconsolate  air 
of  one  of  these  expatriated  horses,  standing  "  solitary  and 
alone"  beneath  the  shade,  his  head  drooping,  evidently 
brooding  over  bitter  memories,  and  ruminating  dire  revenge. 
The  hunters  always  have  a  laugh  at  the  sight  of  such  a  fellow. 


THE  MUSTANG,  OR  WILD  HORSE.          471 

But  the  point  I  wish  particularly  to  direct  the  attention 
of  our  breeders  to.  is  the  importance  of  crossing  the  inares 
upon  our  big-boned  American  stock.  A  great  many  facts 
have  come  under  my  observation  which  would  prove  this  to 
be  an  exceedingly  interesting  field  of  inquiry.  The  experi- 
ment has  already  been  tried  upon  the  western  frontier  of 
Texas,  and  it  is  perfectly  astonishing  what  a  splendid  animal 
is  produced  by  the  cross  of  even  a  very  coarse  American 
stud,  so  he  has  size,  upon  these  high-blooded  and  fiery  little 
mares.  A  single  cross  makes  the  best  saddle  horse,  take 
him  altogether,  I  have  ever  met  with,  and  we  have  some 
pretty  passible  hacks  in  Kentucky !  It  could  hardly  well  be 
otherwise,  when  we  look  at  the  pure  descent  of  these  mares  ! 

Yet  apart  from  these  considerations  of  utility,  if  a  herd 
of  buffalo  be  the  grandest  and  most  formidable  of  our  prairie 
sights,  certainly  a  drove  of  mustangs  must  be  accounted  the 
most  magnificently  beautiful.  No  imagination  can  compass 
the  exceeding  grace  and  airy  freedom  of  the  arched  and 
silken-tossing  chaos,  as  it  sways  to  and  fro,  glistening  in 
beamy  mail  beneath  the  sun,  while  sportively  unconscious  of 
observation.  How  grandly  they  plunge,  curvette  and  wrestle, 
wheel  like  trained  columns,  charge,  scatter  and  form  again 
in  the  swift  change  of  magic  convolutions,  shifting  like  cloud 
Bhadows  eddied  on  an  April  breeze  along  the  grass,  as  swift, 
if  not  as  fleeting  ! 

So  they  appear  from  the  distance,  at  which  they  can  alone 
be  viewed,  as  in  our  sketch.  Sometimes  I  have  come  upon 
them  suddenly  amidst  the  motts  of  timber ;  when  the  mo- 
mentary, but  nearer  view,  would  disclose  the  mottled  variety 
of  their  coats  to  which  I  have  referred ;  but  most  usually 
they  are  seen  in  swift  battalions,  scurrying  across  the  plains, 
and  stopping  for  a  moment,  on  the  last  undulation,  for  a 
parting  look  at  the  intruder,  cluster  with  flying  hair  against 
the  sky,  and  are  gone ! 


CHAPTER  XX. 

A  BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  OF  THE  SPECLATER. 

TURN  we  now  to  the  northward,  for  our  "  Wild  Scenes" 
have  lingered  long  upon  the  green  and  waving  Plains  that 
shimmer  in  the  breezy  sunshine  of  the  mellow  South.  We 
have  felt  the  slumbering  electricity  in  its  treacherous  air  jar 
us  through  smiles,  and  amidst  its  fierce  extremes  of  beauty 
and  of  terror,  realized  something  of  the  wild  unexpectedness 
of  action  peculiar  to  life  amidst  the  latent  power  of  such 
fierce  elements,  as  there  "do  mostly  congregate." 

The   "  Hunter-Naturalist" — like   an    invisible    Presence- 
has   walked  with  us    amidst    these    scenes,    "  informing   the 

472 


WILD   LAKES   OF   THE   ARIONDACK.  473 

Spirit"  of  them  all  with  this  most  gossip  and  desultory 
mood  in  which  our  volume  was  at  first  conceived. 

A  summer's  journey  of  sporting  adventure  towards  the 
North,  dating  at  a  much  later  period  in  my  life  than  those 
previously  given  as  personal,  included  a  sojourn  amongst 
that  linked  and  wonderful  cluster  of  Lakes,  extending  from 

7  O 

IL'imllton  county,  in  the  west  of  New  York,  north  to  Lake 
CL...L plain  and  the  St.  Lawrence.  Something  of  the  "Wild 
Scenes"  and  characteristic  incidents  amidst  the  haughty 
solitudes  of  those  rugged  hemlock-bristled  Ariondacks, 
and  their  chaste,  cold,  glistening  Lakes,  I  must  give  in  a 
fragmentary  way. 

I  had  reached  Lake  Pleasant  in  Hamilton  county,  the 
semi-civilized  outpost  of  the  wilderness  interior  of  "  Sporting 
Grounds,"  through  the  ordinary  tribulations  of  jolting, 
fat:;;ue,  mud,  rain,  etc.,  in  company  with  an  English  friend, 
a  placid  "son  of  the  angle,"  in  the  strict  Waltonian  sense, 
but  altogether  an  unaccustomed  hunter  of  wilderness  game. 

Lake  Pleasant,  upon  the  outlet  end  of  which  we  were 
temporarily  located  in  a  rude  board  hovel,  dignified  as  "  mine 
inn  !" — was  overlooked  at  the  opposite  by  an  abrupt  moun- 
tain— one  of  the  Ariondacks — named  from  the  Indian  name, 
the  Speclater.  The  inlet  came  in  at  its  foot,  and  from  the 
steep  top,  a  bird's-eye  view  could  be  obtained  of  the  whole 
scene  of  our  future  operations.  After  a  night's  rest,  we 
made  a  day  of  it  to  clamber  the  huge  rocky  sides  of  this 
ancient  sentinel  that  from  its  bald  crest  we  should  look 
forth,  that  our  eyes  might  be  "made  aware." 

I  wanted  to  convey  some  idea  of  what  we  saw,  but  I  find 
that  though  very  nice  in  theory  the  practice  is  difficult.  I 
could  only  think,  as  we  ascended,  in  the  words  of  one  who 
spake  of  old — "  Get  thee  up  into  the  top  of  Pisgah,  and  lift 
thine  eyes  westward,  and  northward,  and  southward,  and  east- 
ward, behold  it  with  thine  own  eyes !"  And,  verily,  when  we 


474  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTEKS. 

reached  the  top  of  Mount  Speclater  did  we  lift  our  eyes 
and  behold  the  promised  land  of  sportsmen — the  Canaan, 
not  of  milk  and  honey,  by  a  long  jump — but  of  the  ferae 
naturae — "  a  whole  y earth  full  'er  God-a-mighty's  wild  var- 
mints !"  as  a  sublimity-struck  Connecticut  Pedlar  ejaculated 
from  the  same  point  of  view !  Of  a  truth  it  was  a  wonderful 
sight — looking  down  at  your  feet,  then  off  to  the  South,  and 
then  to  the  North-west,  upon  this  wild  chaos  of  savage-looking 
hills,  lit  up  by  the  scattered  shine  of  thirty-six  Lakes,  which, 
within  the  space  of  about  the  same  number  of  miles  in  length, 
look  like  bright  patches  which  had  fallen  in  benediction  out 
of  a  summer's  sky  into  these  sullen  glooms ! 

There  they  go,  far  away  beneath  us — those  younger  ranks 
of  pine-haired  Titans,  that  make  the  blue  line  of  the  Arion- 
dack !  See  them  stretch  their  misty  arms  to  one  another, 
rank  upon  rank,  to  form  these  cordons  of  impregnable  defence 
about  those  shadowy  basins,  up  from  which  the  silver  sheen 
of  many  a  grotesque  form  of  Lake  is  thrown  into  our  dazzled 
eyes. 

What  a  sight  is  this,  within  twenty-four  hours  of  New 
York,  with  its  smoke,  and  din,  and  crush ! 

Hurrah !  to  think  that  these  bright  sheets  are  gleaming 
down  through  their  still  blue  depths  with  shoals  of  the 
magnificent  salmon  trout,  with  their  dark  marbled  backs 
and  lustrous  mottled  sides,  and  that  every  silver  thread  of 
river,  rivulet  and  inlet  binding  them  together,  glitters  upon 
its  ripples  or  within  its  shaded  pools  to  the  arrowy  leap  of 
that  crimson  flecked  keystrel  of  the  streams,  the  brook  trout ! 

Hurrah  !  hurrah  !  to  think,  too,  that  these  unbroken  forests 
which  still  wear  the  solemn  look  of  Earth's  Primeval  births, 
yet  shelter  within  their  difficult  fastnesses,  her  earliest  chil- 
dren. That  the  huge  moose  which  came  before  the  red  man, 
yet  rouses  the  sluggish  echoes  with  its  hoarse  bcllowings. 
That  the  red  deer  whistles  and  snorts  to  the  boding  how1 


WILD  LAKES  OP  THE  ARIOKDACK.          475 

of  the  tireless  gray  wolf ;  and  the  brown  bear,  like  a  clumsy 
boxer,  cuffs  the  screaming  panther  away  from  its  newly  slain 
feast ! 

The  Indian  is  gone,  but  yet  his  ancient  foes  and  victims 
have  flourished  apace,  and  may  usurp  their  inheritance. 

Hurrah !  hurrah !  Arkwright  and  Fulton  have  not  yet 
conquered  the  free  earth  of  God  in  this  direction — and 
bound  all  its  limbs  in  chains ! 

"The  undevout  astronomer  is  mad"  —  and  the  devout 
sportsman  may  be  forgiven,  if  at  such  a  sight  he,  too,  grow 
mad  and  should  fall  to  capering,  and  become  something  of 
a  heathen  in  his  glee,  shouting  as  I  did. 

"  Take  my  cap,  Jupiter,  and  thank  thee  !"  Against  such 
uncanonical  sins  I  hereby  formally  warn  all  other  faithful 
eons  of  Nimrod,  who  may  be  "taken  aback"  under  similar 
circumstances. 

As  to  the  propriety  of  capering  and  throwing  up  one's 
cap  on  the  top  of  a  mountain,  I  must  in  meekness  confess 
to  its  being  "highly  improper"  —  "unworthy  the  dignity," 
etc. — but  bless  our  soul,  who  could  help  it  ?  Not  any  genuine 
sportsman,  I  am  sure,  whether  he  be  "Venator,"  "Piscator," 
or  "Anceps!" — or  all  combined  as — "I  flatter  myself!" — 
ahem  ! 

No,  it  was  not  in  human  nature — or  more  inclusively, 
sportsman's  nature — to  look  down  upon  a  scene  so  gloriously 
fresh — so  impregna-bly  savage — hemmed  in  with  its  blue- 
topped  barriers  forever  ! — without  feeling  rich — rich  as  the 
discoverer  of  some  new  gold-bearing  island  of  the  ti"pic 
sea  of  dreams — richer  far  than  one  of  England's  proud  lords 
when  he  waved  his  hand  towards  his  fenced  and  great  domain ; 
for  this,  too,  was  mine — was  oure — was  all  mankind's — was 
GOD'S,  as  the  executor  for  ALL  ! 

And  what  if  I  were  guilty  of  some  saltant  absurdities  ? 
There  were  no  game  law  iniquities  upon  my  shoulders  to 
weigh  down  my  heels ! — all  this  was  free,  and  the  fatness 


476  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

thereof  was  mine  for  the  winning — mine  to  be  struggled 
for  manfully  with  my  brother — mine  to  be  pouched,  carried 
off  and  eaten,  if  my  right  hand  retained  its  cunning !  Even 
my  placid  friend,  Piscator,  felt  within  him  the  movings  of  a 
mild  exultation,  as  he  stretched  forth  his  hands  above  it  in 
calm  blessing,  and  peacefully  smiled ! 

Here  and  there  the  white  mist-clouds  lay  along  the  hill- 
sides above  them — seeming  to  form  high  up  against  the 
purpled  green  the  serial  double  of  the  lakes — and  there,  no 
doubt,  the  swift-winged  swallows — though  we  couldn't  see 
them — dived  through  the  fleecy  waves  like  brook-trout,  and 
the  fish-hawk  swooped  like  the  ravenous  salmon — if  they 
didn't  at  them  below  ! 

Of  this  we  had  much  more  palpable  evidence,  for  we  saw 
many  of  them  rise,  beating  their  wings  with  exulting  screams 
as  they  went  circling  up  and  up,  bearing  a  three  to  a  five 
pounder  in  their  talons.  Fat  pickings  for  fish-hawks,  any 
how,  in  these  thirty  odd  lakes  !  How  I  envied  the  rascals, 
and  wished  to  hear  the  war-cry  of  a  bald  eagle,  and  see 
him  come  down  from  the  clouds  above,  hurled  swiftly,  like 
the  bolt  he  once  bore,  upon  resistless  wings,  to  strike  the 
gluttons  and  make  them  drop  their  struggling  prey,  and 
then  to  see  the  conquering  robber  pause  and  dive  with  a 
roar  of  plumes  down  the  still  air  and  snatch  the  glistening 
spoil  before  it  reached  the  wave  again. 

These  are  the  quick,  fierce  battles  of  the  air-kings  that 
we  sometimes  see  from  such  a  perch ! 

But  let  us  count  our  riches  over,  and  name  their  names 
and  places  that  we  may  know  them. 

Sheer  down  from  our  pinnacle  on  the  northern  side  lies 
Lake  Pleasant — a  great  white  opal,  with  an  emerald  in  the 
centre.  This  is 

The  captain  jewel  of  the  carcanct," 

and  old  earth  wears  it  proudly  for  its  beauty,  and  its  name 


WILD   LAKES    OF   THE  ARIONDACK.  477 

19  most  happily  named.  Its  shape  is  somewhat  irregular, 
and  its  length  is  four  miles,  with  an  average  breadth  of  two 
miles,  and  a  depth  of  sixty  feet.  At  the  opposite  extremity 
is  the  narrow  but  deep  outlet  which  forms  the  Sockendog 
River,  after  passing  through  Cungamunck  Bay,  a  few  cCes 
farther  on,  and  then  strikes  off  to  the  north-east,  a  bold 
and  boisterous  mountain  stream,  clattering  among  tho  hills 
until  it  looses  itself  in  the  great  Hudson,  as  its  western 
branch. 

The  shores  of  Lake  Pleasant  have  quite  a  cultivated  aspect 
— this  is  of  course  comparative.  A  number  of  beautiful 
grazing  farms  are  opened  to  view  around  its  rolling  shores 
down  to  the  water's  edge.  They  are  very  rudely  cultivated 
yet,  but  they  might  be  made  surpassingly  lovely  some  day. 

At  the  N.  W.  extremity  of  Lake  Pleasant  is  the  inlet  of 
Round  Lake,  which  is  about  half  a  mile  in  length.  Round 
Lake  !  Gloomy,  wild  and  picturesque  Round  Lake !  twin 
sister  of  Lake  Pleasant,  "  but  grander  and  more  rude  than 
she !" — rimmed,  like  a  Titan's  brimming  drinking  cup,  with 
low  rocks,  all  around  and  above  them  the  unbroken  forest 
slanting  up  to  blue-topped  hills.  How  deep,  austere  and 
solemn  its  repose. 

What  a  shadow  beside  the  sunny  loveliness  of  its  contrasted 
sister !  It  is  three  miles  both  ways,  and  deeper  than  Lake 
Pleasant.  There  is  no  sign  of  cultivation  upon  its  savage 
shores  except  at  the  outlet.  It  has  several  inlets,  which  go 
glimmering  faintly  through  the  narrow  valleys  towards  the 
north-west.  They  connect  it  still  with  smaller  lakes,  Echo 
Lake,  Lake  Sound,  and — 0  !  euphonious  accord  ! — Mud 
Lake ! 

When  a  few  miles  to  the  west  another  chain  commences  with 
Long  Lake,  which  is  two  miles  and  a  half  in  length  by  a 
half  in  width.  This  connects  with  Fly  Lake,  which  is 
smaller  still,  and  this  with  Falls  Lake,  about  the  same  size, 
which  outlets  into  Piseco,  eleven  miles  west.  This  is  a 


478  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

famous  lake,  and  is  about  seven  miles  long  and  twelve 
•wide.  Through  its  outlet,  West  River,  it  is  one  of  the 
feeders  of  Sockendog  River,  "which  forms  the  west  branch 
of  the  Hudson. 

This,  too,  is  a  lovely  lake,  partaking  of  many  of  the 
features  of  Lake  Pleasant.  There  is  some  rude  presence  of 
civilization  on  the  north  end  and  eastern  side,  where  a  few 
farms  and  a  small  village  are  to  be  seen  along  the  smoothly 
undulating  shore.  The  country  opens  level  to  the  south-east, 
but  on  the  north-west  the  Panther  mountain  beatlcs  over  it 
protectingly  stern. 

This  lake  has  been  made  renowned  among  sportsmen  by 
the  feats  of  the  noted  Piseco  Club — a  fraternal  band  who 
went  thither  once  a  year  upon  a  devout  pilgrimage  to  offer 
up  a  sacrificial  hecatomb  of  fish  bones  and  buck's  horns  to 
the  manes  of  their  hirsute  progenitor,  Ham  !  After  very 
nearly  exhausting  its  waters  and  shores,  they  have  deserted 
them,  and  are  now  threatening  some  one  of  the  wilder  lakes 
we  see  towards  the  north-west.  Here,  when  wo  talk  of 
exhausting  Piseco,  we  must  be  understood  as  when  talking 
of  the  progress  of  civilization — in  a  comparative  sense — for 
be  it  understood — these  six  devout  pilgrims  regarded  one 
hundred  pounds  a  day  as  the  small  expression  of  their  fervid 
religious  zeal ;  and  the  beautiful  lake  fell  into  discredit  with 
them  so  soon  as  it  refused  to  render  up  this  slight  diurnal 
tribute.  Sportsmen  of  less  zeal  still  find  it  a  charming 
resort. 

Now  look  away  to  the  north-west,  and  you  can  count  along 
the  line  of  vision,  until  it  is  lost  in  the  dim  serrated  line 
of  the  Blue  Ariondack,  twenty-five  wild,  lovely  lakes,  upon 
whose  virgin  solitudes  no  Piscco  Club  has  ever  intruded  with 
its  exhausting  zeal.  Look  closely  now,  and  you  will  be 
able  to  trace  the  threads  of  three  of  the  finest  trout  streams 
in  America.  They  form  the  eastern  branch  of  the  Hudson  ! 

Here  we  are  perched  above  and  in  the  centre  of  the  head 


WILD   LAKES    OF   THE   ABJONDACK.  479 

springs  of  that  majestic  river,  and  can  almost  trace  even  the 
attenuated  rills  to  their  junction,  and  we  can  see,  too,  in  the 
blue  mountains,  the  dividing  ridge  between  its  waters  and 
the  clear,  gelid  flood  of  the  St.  Lawrence ! 

A  glorious  perch,  is  it  not  ? 

First:  six  miles  N.  W.  we  can  sec  Jessup's  River.  This 
is  the  nearest  stream  abounding  with  speckled  trout,  and 
where  sport  at  this  season  is  sure  to  be  abundant.  To  "the 
Bridge"  and  to  "the  Indian  Clearing"  everybody  must  go 
first  "to  feel  the  joy  that  anglers  feel." 

This  last  place  has  been  rendered  immortal  by  the  extra- 
ordinary feat  of  our  friend  Porter,  of  the  Spirit  of  the 
Times.  We  do  not  venture  to  give  the  number  of  pounds 
within  a  given  time — he  is  "tall"  enough  and  his  shoulders 
are  broad  enough  to  bear  the  responsibility — but  we  can 
bear  witness,  from  our  high  and  responsible  position,  in  the 
presence  of  all  these  solemn-looking  hills  and  lakes,  that 
our  "  experience"  at  the  Indian  Clearing  entirely  bears  him 
out  in  the  assertion  of  prodigies  to  be  wrought  there. 

Then  comes  Whittaker  Lake — thereby  hangs  a  tale  !  Then 
comes  the  two  Dug  Mountain  Lakes  and  Mason  Lake — these 
are  all  small. 

Now  comes  Louis  Lake — the  next  most  famous  to  Piseco, 
and  affording  now  better  fishing  and  hunting.  It  is  twelve 
miles  from  the  Speclater,  and  is  the  favorite  resort  of 
those  who  come  for  a  short  stay  and  ready  sport.  This  is 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  lakes — its  outlet  forms  a 
junction  with  Jessup's  River  in  a  few  miles,  and  is  thence 
called  Indian  River  to  its  junction  with  the  east  branch  of 
the  Hudson. 

But  I  have  not  space  for  more  particular  enumeration.  I 
nr  st  pass  to  the  curious  Trinity  of  the  Cedar  Lakes,  which 
empty,  too,  into  the  Hudson  by  Moose  River — better  fishing 
even  than  the  Jessup's  River — and  here  we  are  at  Racquett's 
Lake,  which  is  in  this  direction  almost  the  ultima  tliule  and 


480  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

Jjl  Dorado  of  the  sportsman  combined.  It  is  fourteen  by 
B3ven  L.iles,  average,  broken  into  two  great  basins,  connected 
by  a  narrow  strait.  It  is  the  largest  and  most  savagely 
picturesque  of  the  lakes,  and  most  abounding  in  game  of 
every  sort. 

Trout  of  both  kinds  are  so  abundant  in  the  great  basins  and 
the  numerous  inlets,  that  the  sport  soon  becomes  fatiguing. 
It  has  twenty-four  islands,  of  from  one  hundred  acres  to  ten 
feet.  On  the  west  side  is  the  inlet  of  a  singular  chain  of  small 
lakes,  eight  in  number,  all  of  which  abound  in  both  varieties 
of  trout,  and  the  accompanying  fish,  suckers,  chubs,  shiners, 
blue  cats,  sun  perch,  etc.  This  remarkable  chain  extends 
about  fourteen  miles  north  and  east  of  the  lakes,  is  deep, 
clear  and  ice  cold.  On  the  east  side  of  Racket  Lake  is  the 
inlet  of  Blue  Mountain  Lake,  which  is  cold — almost  to 
freezing  point — and  like  a  solid  crystal  set  upon  a  snowbank 
of  blanched  sand. 

You  can  see,  as  you  hang  suspended  in  mid-air  here  in 
your  boat,  the  shoals  of  trout  go  by  in  twenty  feet  water ! 
Think  of  that !  Then  comes  Long  Lake  again — this  time 
in  earnest — for  it  is  twenty  miles  long,  with  an  outlet 
towards  Lake  Champlain.  Here  is  the  difficult  paradise  of 
sportsmen;  and  from  Louis  Lake,  north,  the  moose  becomes 
more  abundant,  with  its  attendant  train  of  smaller  game, 
and  the  distance,  all  told,  from  our  perch  on  Speclater 
Mountain  to  Long  Lake,  is  only  sixty  miles!  These  are 
the  principal  points  of  attraction  -within  the  range  of  our 
utmost  vision  which  I  have  here  noted ;  though  now  we  can 
perceive  that  even  yet  there  are  more  than  thirty-six  lakes, 
the  names  and  distances  of  which  I  have  not  space  to  notice 
in  tLid  bird's-eye  view. 

But  verily,  this  view  of  this  our  exceeding  riches,  in  a 
land  so  rude  and  unpromising  in  the  mouth  of  fame,  and  it 
may  be  together  with  the  rareness  of  the  air,  has  sharpened 
our  appetite  for  testing  again  the  flavor  of  the  good  things 


WILD   LAKES   OF  THE  ARIONDACK.j  481 

therein  contained.  Yea,  our  placid  friend,  Piscator,  stroketh 
his  stomach  as  his  anticipative  eyes  are  turned  towaids 
yonder  humble  looking  house.  Let  us  descend.  What  have 
we  here,  our  tidy  hostess?  Fresh  green  peas — a  salmon 
trout — a  delicate  steak  of  venison — strawberries,  currants, 
cream  !  0,  ye  gods  on  high  Olympus !  Shade  of  Epicurus ! 
Let  us  fall  to  ! 

The  blessing  of  Piscator  was  somewhat  curiously  commen- 
tated— "  Thank  thee  for  thy  manifold  mercies,  good  Lord : 
Amen.  Verily  a  good  wife  is  a  jewel  unto  her  husband !" 
Amen !  we  responded. 


31 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

TROLLING   IN  JUNE. 

"TROLLING,"  anywhere  over  good  water,  has  its  merits, 
but  "trolling"  over  Lake  Pleasant  and  Round  Lake,  of  a 
sultry,  pulseless  summer's  day,  after  the  season  has  gone 
by,  has  its  romance ;  and  it  is  concerning  this  striking 
feature  thereof,  that  I  propose  now  to  write. 

"Patience  is  a  virture  of  the  serene  gods,"  say  the  meek 
"brothers  of  the  angle ;  but  I  say  their  godships  never  sub- 
jected that  sublimest  attribute  to  the  test  of  trolling  one 
of  the  last  days  of  June  anywhere  in  Hamilton  county; 
neither  do  I  believe  Old  Nick  ever  thought  of  that  merciful 
dispensation  in  favor  of  Job,  or  we  should  have  heard  a 

different  story.  It  passeth  all  comprehension — not  " 

still  imagination  in  bottomless  conceit — "  could !  But 

1  anticipate! 

I  was  extremely  ambitious  of  salmon  trout — or  "lakers," 
as  they  call  them ;  and  must  confess  that  my  inner  visuals 
were  so  preoccupied  by  the  glistening  image  of  a  twenty- 
pounder  dancing  in  the  air  before  them,  while  preparing 
to  come  here,  that  it  never  once  occurred  to  me  to  inquire 
whether  I  should  be  in  season  or  out  of  season  for  them. 
As  for  my  friend  Piscator,  his  contented  fancy  had  never 
soared  above  a  brook-trout  of  three  pounds ;  and  when  he 
heard  the  stories  of  these  huge  fellows,  his  large  eyes  would 
grow  rounder,  and  lambent  with  a  liquid  inspiration  at  the 
thought. 

With  what  an  eager  smile,  betwixt  wonder  and  awe,  he 
would  listen,  while  he  toiled  at  his  delicate  tackle,  renewing 
482 


TROLLING.  483 

its  parts  and  strengthening  its  joints  in  preparation  for  the 
momentous  struggle!  We  impatiently  questioned  our  oracle, 
George  Holland,  as  to  the  chances  of  success  in  trolling; 
but  George,  like  all  other  oracles,  was  both  prudent  and 
mystical.  He  saw  that  we  were  determined  that  it  should 
be  in  season,  whether  or  no;  that  we  would  take  some 
salmon  trout,  "bite  or  no  bite;"  and  therefore  he  waived 
answering  our  questions  directly,  but  told  of  his  success  four 
weeks  ago ;  said  the  day  was  not  very  fine  for  'em — but  we 
might  try,  and  if  they  did  bite,  we  would  probably  take 
some !  Encouraging,  very !  and  the  sly  twinkle  in  the  fellow's 
eye,  still  more  so !  But  we  hadn't  come  two  hundred  miles 
to  be  discouraged,  and  we  went. 

My  friend  had  new-rigged  his  tackle  with  the  painstaking 
skill  of  true  science — while  I,  who  pretend  to  no  knowledge 
of  the  niceties  of  art,  had  left  mine  to  the  experience  of 
George.  The  "  shiners"  were  taken  for  bait  with  a  dip  net 
at  the  outlet,  and  then  in  a  light  boat  we  launched  upon 
the  lake.  We  were  two  in  a  boat — which  is  contrary  to  all 
precedent,  as  laid  down  in  the  Journal  of  Lake  Piseco  Trout 
Club,  which  has  been  appended  to  Wiley  &  Putnam's  elegant 
edition  of  Walton  and  Cotton.  There  it  is  described  ex 
cathedra,  as  follows — 

The  trolling  is  done  by  rod  and  reel,  each  fisherman 
using  two  at  the  same  time ;  the  reels  are  improved  by 
having  a  bearing  upon  them  instead  of  a  catch,  so  that  the 
rod  may  be  laid  clown  with  the  line  extended  without  running 
out,  unless  struck  by  a  fish  or  some  other  obstruction.  When 
a  fish  seizes  the  bait  the  oarsman  quits  his  oars,  the  other 
is  handed  to  him,  and  he  reels  up  the  line  to  prevent  its 
falling  upon  the  bottom,  or  the  fish,  from  entanglement. 

This,  of  course,  implies  one  fisherman  to  a  boat — but  with 
such  an  oarsman  as  ours,  we  found  there  was  not  the  slightest 
danger  of  entanglement,  with  one  at  each  end,  while  the 
oarsman  was  left  free  to  use  the  gaff  without  an/  risk  of 


484  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

unsteadying  tlie  boat  too  much  by  giving  him  two  things  to 
do  at  a  lime.  Our  tackle,  however,  agreed  precisely  with 
their  formula,  which  we  give. 

The  tackle  is  of  the  most  delicate  kind;  a  leader  of 
from  six  to  nine  feet  of  single  gut,  with  sncll  having  five 
hooks,  arranged  with  two  at  the  end  placed  back  to  back, 
two  more  one  inch  above,  and  a  fifth,  or  slip  hook,  one  inch 
above,  which  passes  through  and  secures  the  upper  and 
lower  jaw  of  the  minnow,  which  serves  for  bait ;  one  of  the 
middle  hooks  is  placed  in  the  back  of  the  bait,  and  one  of 
the  lower  hooks  in  the  tail.  These  hooks  are  so  small  that 
they  will  scarcely  allow  the  barrel  of  a  quill  to  rest  in  them. 

Thus  far  we  were  "conformists;"  and  George,  after  a  few 
strokes  of  the  oars,  paused,  and  taking  a  shiner  from  the 
bucket  in  which  they  swam,  placed  one  upon  each  of  our 
lines.  The  operation  is  a  very  nice  one — as  the  object  is 
to  retain  the  fish  in  the  position  of  swimming,  and  keep  it 
alive,  too,  as  long  as  possible,  by  closing  its  jaws  with  the  slip 
hook,  which  prevents  it  from  drowning ;  the  two  other  hooks 
on  the  same  side  are  so  carefully  placed  under  the  back  fin 
and  through  the  tail,  that  I  have  seen  them  swim  briskly 
off  after  an  hour's  trolling.  George  then  cast  them  off,  and 
struck  out  for  the  deep  water  with  powerful  strokes  which 
made  the  boat  fairly  leap  again. 

The  shores  of  Lake  Ploasant  on  this  side  slope  beautifully 
over  a  fair  sand  bottom  for  several  hundred  yards  to  the 
deep  water.  Before  we  reached  this  dark  transparency,  our 
lines  had  been  reeled  off  to  over  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet, 
and  were  trailing  a  few  feet  below  the  surface,  far  in  our 
rear.  Our  oarsman  then  altered  his  stroke  to  a  slow  and 
noiseless  dip,  which  scarcely  rippled  the  calm  surface.  Now 
a  "  strike,"  if  we  were  to  get  one  at  all,  might  be  expected-  — 
and  with  this  skillful  rowing,  our  wake  closed  far  enough  this 
side  the  bait  to  leave  it  floating  in  calm  water,  where  the 
trout  might  see  the  flash  of  the  shiner's  side  gleam  slant 


TROLLING.  485 

down  the  cold  depths  of  the  ''spring-holes"  where  they 
lay. 

There  we  sat,  stem  and  stern,  Piscator  and  I,  holding  our 
poles  erect,  like  statues,  petrified  by  our  own  eagerness, 
while  the  angry  sun  looked  down  in  sweltering  wrath  upon 
our  simplicity.  Not  a  breeze  came  with  its  blessing  to  turn 
aside  his  curse — not  a  cloud  went  up  to  the  sky  to  shelter 
us  with  brooding  wings.  The  pitiless  lake  held  up  its 
burnished  shield — still  as  the  death  of  winter — to  hurl  the 
sun's  keen  arrows,  yellow  with  heat,  full  in  our  faces. 
Round  and  round  Lake  Pleasant  (infernal  mockery  of  name !) 
went  the  slow  boat,  until  the  silence  of  its  glide  became 
torture  to  me,  for  I  longed  to  hear  the  ring  of  ripples  and 
the  cool  splash  of  oars.  How  I  began  to  curse  the  skill 
of  our  patient  boatman.  As  we  wheeled  slowly  past  the 
island  it  looked  like  heaven,  with  the  dark,  cool  shadows 
of  its  towering  pines.  How  I  longed  to  have  said  my 
prayers  more  regularly,  that  I  might  be  permitted  to  lie 
down  beneath  them — and  caught  myself  murmuring  rapidly 
over  and  over,  Avith  my  childhood's  intonation  of  piety — i.  e. 
through  the  nose — "And  now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep,"  £c. 

But  I  couldn't  catch  up  !  Not  a  bite  yet.  That  would 
have  been  some  comfort !  I  moaned  as  I  tossed  my  basting 
limbs  to  and  fro. 

"  Curse  all  salmon-trout !  would  that  the  bull-frogs  and 
mud-cats  had  ye  in  the  spawn — hope  ye  may  all  be  toasted 
alive  upon  the  trident  of  the  god  of  waters — ye  illusory 
imps — ye  speckled  whelps,  hag-born — may  it  be  the  fate  of 
each  of  ye  to  be  frozen  stiff  and  be  made  into  runners  to 
some  furred  Kamskatkan's  dog-drawn  sled  ! — but  pshaw  ! — 
there's  no  outlet  that  way;  curse  'cm  anyhow!  PheAv,  0 
scizzors  !" 

George — loquitur — "  Gentlemen,  think  we'd  better  go  into 
R,ound  Lake — the  water's  colder  and  deeper  there,  we'll 
have  a  better  chance  ?" 


486  WILD    SCENES   AND    WILD    HUNTERS. 

Ego — "  Yes  !  in  the  name  of  mercy  go  anywhere — where 
its  cold — into  Round  Lake  or  Nova  Zembla.  Wish  Round 
Lake,  Lake  Pleasant  and  all  the  rest  of  your  lakes  were 
boiling  in  the  cauldron  of  Hecla,  and  I  was  sitting  on  an 
iceberg  to  witness  it — how  I  would  rejoice  to  see  the  bleached 
salmon  tossed  up  on  the  bubbles !" 

Piscator — solemnly — "  but  then  we  should  eat  them  without 
the  glory  of  capturing  them  alive.  Unless  I  had  felt  them 
play  upon  my  tackle  I  should  have  no  stomach  for  their 
blanched  sides.  It  is  a  wish  unworthy  a  true  brother  of  the 
angle !" 

Ego — "Piscator,  when  you  die,  the  Zodiac  will  be  the 
richer,  for  you  will  surely  be  translated  into  the  sign  of 
the  fish ! — to  join  the  patriarchs  who  have  gone  before — 
Walton,  and  Cotton,  Mr.  Secretary  Bibb — when  he  does 
go  !  A  breeze !  a  breeze !  my  kingdom  for  a  breeze ! 
George,  let  us  away  to  Round  Lake — this  bad  cannot  be 
made  worse !" 

We  pass  into  the  narrow  inlet,  and  the  boat  glides  briskly 
among  the  parched  water  lilies,  the  drooping  flags  and  long 
bowed  grass.  A  half  mile  of  its  winding  way,  and  we  are 
shot,  with  a  long  sweep  of  oars,  into  Round  Lake.  "  Beau- 
tiful!  beautiful!" — I  exclaimed  aloud — "What  a  scene  of 
fairie." 

Piscator — "Verily,  it  seems  promising  for  trout  here,  at 
last,  George.  They  are  known  to  bite  on  this  deep  Avater 
such  days  as  this  ?" 

Ego — "No,  unfortunate  Piscator — you  may  rest  assured 
never !  They  would  scald  their  noses  if  they  caine  near 
enough  the  surface  to  strike,  even  here." 

George — with  a  sly  evasion — "It  requires  a  breeze,  sir, 
for  them  to  bite  most  any  time  I" 

Piscator — "  Here  goes  with  another  shiner — breeze  or  no 
breeze,  we  must  have  a  trout  for  dinner  !  Would  that  I  had 
my  hook  of  flies  !" 


TKOLLING.  487 

Ego — "  Piscator,  thou  unbelieving  Thomas  !  What  would'st 
thou  do  with  flies  here  ?" 

"Piscator — We  of  the  brotherhood  know  them  to  work 
miracles,  and  therefore  believe  in  their  efficacy." 

Ego — with  a  gasp  and  a  sigh  of  exhaustion — "  I  see  !  Ah, 
Piscator  !  Piscator  !  The  ruling  passion  strong  in  death  !" 

"  George — Looking  behind  him — "  A  breeze  !  There  comes 
a  breeze,  gentlemen !" 

"  Thank  the  good  gods,"  and  I  almost  overset  the  boat  as 
I  lifted  up  my  forehead  eagerly  to  catch  the  first  cool  brush 
of  its  coming  wing. 

"Now  for  a  trout,"  chuckled  Piscator,  with  glistening  eyes. 

Ah,  it  comes  at  last — so  cool — so  balmily  delicious — driving 
the  white-topped  wavelets  before  it — on  !  on  with  it  came  the 
black  shadow  of  that  angel-ridden  cloud  to  shelter  us.  I 
could  have  shouted  for  my  joy — aye,  lifted  up  my  exulting 
soul  in  pseans,  as  cloud  after  cloud  came  drifting  on  their 
white  plumes  over  us,  with  a  legion  of  airy  ministers  which 
had  come  to  our  relief ;  but  that  my  eyes  fell  upon  the  warm 
face  of  Piscator,  shining  with  perspiration  and  expanded  into 
a  smile  of  pleasing  expectancy  as  he  watched  the  vibrations 
of  his  line.  I  was  amazed  into  dumbness.  I  gazed  upon 
the  devotee  in  "a  mute  astound,"  when  lo  !  a  heavy  jerk — • 
a  lurch  and  a  shout,  "you've  got  him!"  from  George,  made 
me  aware  that  a  fish  had  struck.  "Reel  him  in!"  said 
George,  as  I  hastily  let  go  the  line.  "Reel  him  in,"  he 

O      '  v  O  f 

has  line  enough."  I  reeled  away,  while  Piscator,  too 
generous  to  show  his  disappointment,  did  the  like  with 
his,  watching  at  the  same  time  with  benevolent  interest 
for  my  success. 

It  was  a  pause  of  breathless  interest,  as  I  reeled  rapidly 
up  for  a  few  moments.  "  Curse  it,  George,"  I  exclaimed 
petulantly,  "I  feel  nothing — the  fellow  has  broken  away." 
He  was  watching  my  line — "  No  !  no  !  reel  on — you  have 
him,  you'll  feel  him  directly."  Reel !  reel !  reel !  and 


488  WILD   SCENES  AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

now  a  few  faint  surges  which  bent  the  rod  slightly.  There ! 
the  flash  of  his  gleaming  side  darts  up  the  blue  wave !  now 
he  has  waked  up  !  Tug !  splash !  whiz — there  he  goes  bound- 
ing clear  out  of  water  on  the  taut  line !  Steady !  steady ! 
George  is  ready  with  the  gaff.  Now  he  rises  again — there, 
he  has  it !  Floundering  over  our  feet  lays  a  beautiful  two- 
pound  laker ! 

"No  great  shakes  after  all,  Master  George — but  ah  !  what 
a  lovely  creature  it  is.  Here,  let  me  look  at  him  well  before 
his  glorious  colors  fade.  See  his  long  gracefully  tapering 
body ;  see  the  dark  greenish  purple  of  his  richly  marbled 
back,  how  it  lightens  quickly  down  his  side,  like  silver 
burnished  bronze ;  and  then  those  rows  of  spots  so  regularly 
placed  along  it — the  two  outside  of  yellow,  like  gold  drops, 
that  down  the  middle  of  small  carbuncles  !  There  !  there ! 
the  splendors  are  fading  already  !" 

Beautiful  dweller  of  the  dark  blue  waters,  farewell  until 
we  meet,  again  at  the  dinner  table  !  Ah,  Piscator  !  Piscator  ! 
my  hapless  friend !  you  perceive  the  jealous  Deities  of  the 
lake  have  visited  an  austere  judgment  upon  you  in  permitting 
to  me  alone  the  "  spoila  opima"  of  the  excursion,  can  you 
not  perceive  the  reason  ? 

Piscator — "  To  rebuke  your  want  of  faith  and  wishes  on 
their  behalf  this  day,  I  suppose  !" 

Ego — "  Infatuated  !  can  you  not  feel  that  it  has  been  to 
punish  your  presumption  in  wishing  you  had  flies — when 
George,  our  oracle  and  their  High  Priest,  had  already 
revealed  to  you  that  they  would  only  take  living  shiners, 
and  were  not  to  be  fooled  by  mimic  monsters  of  wool  and 
feathers!  you  shamefully  discredited  their  sagacity  thereby!" 

Piscator — with  suspended  nostrils  and  lightning  in  his  eye 
— "  Pshaw,  nonsense  !  I  shall  take  a  trout  greater  than  five 
of  thine  before  we  reach  yonder  shore  !" 

Ego — compassionately — "  Vain  man  !" 

Again  we  glided  off,  across  and  about,  around  and  around 


TROLLING.  439 

we  went  for  a  weary  time  the  same  noiseless  way — when 
suddenly  our  curse  came  again,  and  I  remembered — 

"Down  dropt  the  breeze,  the  sails  dropt  down, 
'Twas  sad  as  sad  could  be." 


And  then : 


'  All  in  a  hot  and  copper  sky, 
The  bloody  sun,  at  noon,"  &c.  &c. 


I  verily  shuddered  as  I  felt  the  hot  stagnation  settle  upon 
my  forehead  and  my  lungs.  I  looked  appealingly  to  Piscator. 
What  ?  Horror  ! — the  despairing  wretch  ! — the  disappoint- 
ment and  all  has  been  too  much  for  him !  With  head  thrown 
back,  and  eyes  rolling  wildly  towards  the  zenith — his  large 
manly  throat  bared,  he  held — the  brandy  flask  to  his  lips ! — 
the  forgotten  brandy  flask !  and  then  my  time  came.  I 
imbibed  from  it  contemplatively  and  laid  it  aside  solemnly. 
I  had  rested  the  end  of  my  rod  in  the  gunwale  of  the  boat, 
and  did  not  take  it  up  again.  I  laid  myself  reposefully  in 
the  bow.  The  vanity  of  all  sublunary  things — but  most 
that  of  trolling  for  lakers  out  of  season,  had  been  male 
apparent  to  me.  I  looked  up  to  the  clouds — above  us  they 
had  vanished,  and  all  was  "a  hot  and  copper  sky:"  as  if 
to  the  spell  of  some  strange  wizard  of  the  North,  their 
careering  legions  had  been  called  down  and  rested  toward 
the  pole  upon  the  mountain  tops — still ! — still  as  if  they 
paused  in  the  terror  of  a  weird  necromancy,  which  held 
them  frozen  in  its  dreadful  will.  They  were  strangely  piled, 
and  strewn,  and  marshalled.  I  never  saw  such  clouds  before 
— the  forms  were  all  of  white,  with  a  dark  distinct  outline. 
I  became  strangely  elated  and  laughed  out  wildly,  and  then 
muttered — 

"  Aye,  yonder  is  the  pageant  of  our  lives — the  substance 
whereof  our  realities  are  made,  and  yet  how  strange  it  seems, 
how  it  has  become  so  palpable.  Look  at  it  closely ;  you  will 
see  there 


490  WILD  SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

'  The  shadows  of  all  forms  that  think  and  live 
Till  Death  unite  them,  and  they  part  no  more ; 
Dreams  and  the  light  imaginings  of  men, 
And  all  that  faith  creates  of  love,  desires 
Terrible,  strange,  sublime  and  beauteous  shapes.' 

Every  thing  there,  Piscator !  Even  to  that  white  throne, 
heaped  up  like  a  reflex  of  the  frowning  Speclater;  and  there 
on  the  cloudy  Olympus  I  can  see  particular  deities  of  Lake 
Pleasant  and  Round  Lake.  It  must  be  confessed,  that 
though  their  '  brows  are  awful,'  their  tails  look  somewhat 
1  fishy !'  See !  there  is  a  veritable  representative  of  the 
salmon  trout  whom  you  have  this  day  insulted !  He  kneels 
with  a  graceful  bend  of  his  pedestal  fin,  and  with  open  mouth 
is  complaining  to  their  Godships  concerning  you.  See  how 
they  wag  their  misty  heads  and  scowl  the  feathery  bolts  of 
their  ire  down  at  you  !  Tremble,  presumptuous  Piscator  !' 

Piscator — laughing  dolorously — "  Aye  !  aye  !  my  Pithian  ! 
Pass  him  the  flask,  George  !" 

Ego — with  a  grandiose  wave  of  the  arm — "  No,  sir !  no 
more  brandy.  My  inspiration  is  there— 


•  All  the  gods 


Are  there,  and  all  the  powers  of  nameless  worlds ; 
Vast  sceptred  phantoms  ;  heroes,  men  and  beasts  ; 
And  Demogorgon,  a  tremendous  gloom ; 
And  he,  the  supreme  Tyrant  on  his  throne 
Of  burning  gold.' 

Blind  worm — (I  should  call  you  angle-worm,  Piscator) — 
can  you  not  see  them  ?  Look,  I  say  ! — there  is  the  Northern 
Bear,  distinct,  upreared  upon  his  mighty  hinder  parts,  and 
boxing  with  his  frosty  paws  the  small  and  feathery  curled 
effigy  of  a  French  poodle,  which  assails  him  from  above 
with  snarling  jaws  !" 

Piscator — "  Bah !  you  are  becoming  a  political  prophet. 
Do  you  see  John  Bull  there?" 

— indignantly — "  Where  arc  your  eyes  ?     Do  you  not 


TROLLING. 


491 


see  him  on  this  side  below  the  bear,  tumbling  down  the  white 
cliff's  of  Albion,  from  which  he  has  just  been  brought  by  one 
stroke  of  those  white  gelid  paws — with  hoofs  in  air,  and 
upward  mouth  wide-stretched  with  bellowings  ?  (Piscator  is 
an  Englishman !)  Eyeless  Angle-worm  !  can  you  not  see  ?" 

Piscator — placidly — "  No,  no  !  I,  have  no  eyes  for  your 
mad  visions !" 

Ego — with  furious  emphasis — "  Mad,  are  they  ? 

'  Call  at  will 

Thine  own  ghost  or  the  ghost  of  Jupiter, 

Hades,  or  Typhon,  or  what  mightier  gods — hey !'  " 

A  tremendous  lurch  !  Boat  nearly  turned  over  !  My  rod 
almost  bent  double  !  as  the  boat  is  wheeled  violently  from  its 
course,  and  we  all  thrown  as  violently  upon  our  sides,  for  iu 
the  wake  a  huge  trout  leaped  from  the  water,  and  when  ho 
falls  back  the  boat  rights,  and  we  all  look  foolish. 

George,  vehemently — "  There,  you've  lost  him  !" 

Piscator,  indignantly — "  There  !  if  you  had  held  your  rool 
in  your  hand,  instead  of  ranting  nonsense  on  your  back 
you  wouldn't  have  lost  that  twelve-pounder  !" 

Ego — faintly — "  But  he  didn't  bite  at  a  fly,  or  at  the  hook 
of  a  fly  fisher  !" 

Moral — never  troll  lake  trout  after  the  first  of  June. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

A  NIGHT  HUNT   UP   THE   CUNGAMUNCK. 

ALTHOUGH  the  most  inveterate  of  veteran  fly-fishers,  Pis- 
cator  had,  even  in  our  short  survey  of  these  wild  sporting 
grounds,  become  thoroughly  aroused  to  a  sense  of  "  higher 
things"  than  brook  trout,  and  not  in  the  least  discouraged  at 
the  signal  failures  of  the  first  flights  of  his  ambition  at  the 
great  lake  trout,  he  now  breathed  quicker,  with  a  yet  more 
eager  emulation  for  nobler  quarry  still !  In  short,  as  our 
guide,  George,  said — "  He's  down  on  the  deer  up  Cunga- 
rnunck !" 

The  reader  is  no  doubt  familiar  with  the  mode  of  hunting 

492 


A  NIGHT   HUNT   UP  THE   CUNGAMUNCK.  493 

deer  "by  torch-light,"  which  has  been  so  often  described — 
but  I  have  some  doubts  about  his  being  so  with  that  of 
hunting  them  "  by  candle-light,"  which,  I  believe,  is  peculiar 
to  the  Lake  country.  This  hunt  must  take  place  during  the 
warm  months,  when  flies  are  most  abundant.  Indeed,  it  is 
as  much  to  escape  from  their  persecutions  as  to  browse  upon 
certain  varieties  of  water-plants,  which  then  make  their 
appearance  along  the  edges  of  the  marshes,  streams,  and 
lakes,  that  the  deer  come  into  the  water  to  feed,  and  thus 
afford  an  opportunity  for  this  evening  sport. 

Yes,  the  "dander"  of  my  placid  associate,  Piscator,  "is 
riz !"  He  vows  in  his  mild,  but  not  the  less  significant 
manner,  that  nothing  short  of  a  "ten  prong  buck"  will 
satisfy  him,  and  so  proceeds  in  a  severe  and  ominous  silence 
with  his  preparation. 

The  beautiful  "double-barrel" — which  had  heretofore  been 
guilty  of  nothing  more  serious  than  wood-cock  and  ducks — 
was  to  be  unscrewed,  taken  apart,  and  cleaned  to  the  last 
degree  of  scrupulous  nicety,  in  preparation  for  the  more 
important  work  on  hand.  Then,  with  mathematical  pre- 
cision, it  was  duly  charged,  and  then,  with  a  flask  in  each 
pocket — for  two  kinds  of  ammunition  are  indispensable  on 
such  occasions !  and  a  well-filled  cigar  case,  he  is  ready ! 
And  he  casts  his  eyes  about — something  is  wanting !  Yes  ! 
yes!  the  "India  rubber  overall."  For  Piscator,  like  all 
true  brothers  of  the  angle  that  I  have  yet  met,  has  a  peculiar 
horror  of  risking  the  wetting  his  skin. 

I  have,  after  much  study,  accounted  satisfactorily  for  this 
phenomenon,  by  the  philosophical  conclusion,  that  they  are 
haunted  by  the  constant  apprehension  of  transmigration  into 
the  corporate  forms  of  the  trout,  to  which  they  are  so  devoted. 
I  had  even  ventured  to  hint  as  much  to  Piscator,  but  the 
nervous  dread  with  which  he  evidently  avoided  the  subject, 
caused  me  to  forbear,  in  courtesy,  pressing  it  farther  !  Being 
a  zealous  disciple  of  Priesnitz,  I  have  no  fear  of  cold  water 


494  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

before  my  eyes ;  and  therefore  my  equipment  in  this  respect 
was  considerably  simplified,  though  I  must  confess  to  you  I 
had  an  ever-present  terror  of  the  flies,  which  was  quite  an 
offset  to  Piscator's  transmigration,  and  cost  me  quite  as  much 
preparation  to  guard  against. 

I  knew  that  the  oil  of  pennyroyal  was  a  specific  against 
their  attacks ;  but  aside  from  my  aversion  to  the  use  of  so 
disagreeable  an  article,  I  had  forgotten  it,  so  that  the  only 
resource  left  me,  had  been  to  buy  a  green  veil  at  Northfield, 
and  cutting  a  hole  in  the  centre  large  enough  for  the  crown 
of  my  broad  brimmed  leghorn  to  pass  through,  I  had  the  ends 
taken  up  and  a  "  puckering  string"  run  around  them,  so  that 
they  could  be  drawn  close  about  my  neck — thus  securely 
surrounding  my  face  with  a  net  which  would  defy  even 
"  black  gnats."  Thus,  with  rifle  (which  is  my  favorite  weapon) 
in  hand,  and  my  personal  dividend  of  ammunition  in  pocket, 
I,  too,  considered  myself  equipped  for  the  night  hunt. 

Piscator  was  characteristically  disregardful  of  "the  flics," 
and  laughed  quite  as  much  at  my  precautions  against  them 
as  I  had  done  at  his  against  getting  wet.  lie  said,  somewhat 
pedantically,  that  "Patience  was  a  more  magnanimous  divinity 
than  Prudence,  seeing  that  the  one  was  always  irritable, 
distrustful,  and  guarding  herself  against  the  wisdom  of  the 
Higher  Powers,  while  the  other  was  content  in  calm  humility 
to  abide  the  evil  the  Gods  might  send  along  with  the  good !" 

Whereto  I  replied — "  The  Gods  do  not  send  black  gnats, 
Piscator ;  for  I  have  sufficient  proof  in  their  color  that  they 
are  hatched  in  Acheron,  and  are  loosed  upon  earth  by  the 
Evil  Deities  to  make  good  men  swear  against  Jupiter — there- 
fore, I  guard  against  the  crime  rather  than  provoke  it — while 
you  impiously  shield  your  shoulders  against  the  rain,  which 
is  confessedly  the  chiefest  benediction  of  the  covering  heavens." 

Piscator  did  not  reply,  but  somewhat  petulantly  tossed  his 
India  rubber  overall  upon  his  shoulders,  and  calling  oar 
guide,  tramped  away,  followed  by  me,  towards  the  boat  at 


A  NIGHT   HUXT   UP   THE   CUNGAMUNCK. 

the  outlet.  There  we  found  every  thing  needful  already  in 
the  boat.  The  additions  to  its  ordinary  equipment  were  very 
few  and  simple.  A  stout  pine  stick  had  been  let  into  an 
auger  hole  through  a  board  which  had  been  placed  across 
the  bow.  This  stood  some  four  feet  high ;  and  upon  the  top 
of  it  was  placed  a  triangular  shaped  box,  open  at  the  wide 
end,  and  which  was  intended  to  hold  the  lighted  candles. 
Then  there  was  a  low  seat,  which  was  intended  for  the 
marksman,  who  sat  forward,  just  behind  the  staff  and  box- 
lantern  ;  then  we  had  a  paddle,  which  was  to  be  used  when 
we  reached  the  scene  of  operations,  where  the  ordinary  oars 
were  to  be  laid  aside. 

Now  we  embarked,  and  set  off  down  the  narrow  but  deep 
outlet.  It  here  takes  the  name  of  Sockendog  river,  and  its 
course  towards  the  southeast  is  through  a  wide  valley,  between 
two  chains  of  hills.  The  water  spreads  over  the  surface  of 
this  valley  in  reality,  though  it  is  so  overgrown  by  the 
"mash"  of  tall  grass,  flags  and  water-lilies,  that  the  real 
channel  seems  like  a  dark  shining  ribbon  laid  along  a  rippled 
and  rustling  waste  of  green.  Soon  we  reached  Cungamunck 
Bay,  which  spreads  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  width,  with  tho 
hills  rising  abruptly  on  the  east.  It  is  a  pretty  sheet  of 
water,  covered  with  the  white  and  yellow  flowers  of  the  lily. 
Sockendog  plunges  on  through  a  gorge  by  the  foot  of  the 
hills,  while  we  turn  towards  the  north-west,  pushing  through 
the  grass  and  lilies  for  the  thread-like  channel  of  the  Cunga- 
munck river,  which  comes  winding  down  from  out  a  forest 
of  wild  hills. 

Now  the  valley  narrows  rapidly,  and  the  hills  stand 
marshalled  on  either  hand  in  close  dark  lines.  The  sun 
is  yet  over  an  hour  high,  and  its  yellow  glitter  is  broken 
upon  our  faces  through  the  firs  and  pines  which  bristle  on 
the  ridges.  We  are  gliding  with  a  "  stilly  creeping"  glide, 
beneath  their  long  shadows  and  up  the  tortuous  vistas  of  this 
curious  stream,  which  comes  creeping  slowly  down,  through 


496  WILD   SCENES   AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

the  grass  like  a  great  snake  out  of  its  lair  of  night,  with 
here  and  there  the  golden  morning  glistening  on  its  scales. 

It  was  a  strange,  lonely  scene,  and  a  dream-like  hush  was 
over  it,  so  that  we  could  hear  our  hearts  beat  above  the  soft 
lapsing  of  the  deeply  winnowed  oars.  It  seemed  so  wild,  and 
was  so  still  here,  that  no  other  sounds  should  intrude  but  the 
splash  of  the  plunging  bull-frog,  the  rustling  ripple  of  the 
wading  deer  among  the  flags,  and  the  musically  shrill  metallic 
warble  of  the  black-winged  scarlet  tanager,  from  out  the  deep 
shadows  of  the  hill-side  forest  of  old  pines  and  hemlock. 
Now  is  the  time  when  the  deer  begin  to  come  down  from  the 
hills  to  feed  upon  the  tender  grasses  and  water  plants  that 
grow  in  the  bed  and  along  the  edges  of  the  stream ;  and  we 
may  expect  any  moment,  when  we  make  the  short  turns, 
which,  although  the  stream  is  deep,  are  often  hardly  long 
enough  for  the  boat  to  lie  in,  or  wide  enough  for  the  oars, 
to  see  a  tawny  head  uplifted  in  the  startle,  and  reaching  out 
from  the  long  grass  over  the  channel  to  gaze  at  our  coming 
with  pricked  ears. 

Piscator  and  I  drew  lots  for  the  first  shot  at  starting,  and 
I  won,  so  that  I  had  the  forward  seat,  and  with  rifle  at 
"present,"  I  sat  in  statue-like  and  breathless  expectation  as 
we  made  each  turn,  and  came  upon  a  new  and  always  wilder 
and  more  lovely  picture  of  green  islets,  deep  receding  coves, 
where  the  trout  leaped  like  quick  gleams  of  moonlight  over 
the  white  lilies — or  small  meadows  waving  to  and  fro,  in  live 
contrast  with  the  gray  and  solemn-looking  boulders  of  granite 
which  are  piled  up  behind  them,  with  the  matted  and  snake- 
like  roots  of  the  ancient  pines  above,  twisted  and  twined 
along  their  edges.  I  was  so  lulled  and  enchanted  by  the 
constantly  varying  beauty  and  the  presiding  repose  of  these 
scenes,  that,  with  all  the  eager  instincts  of  the  sportsman 
rampant  in  my  veins,  I  could  not  help  hoping,  at  moments, 
that  no  deer  would  make  its  appearance,  and  thus  compel 
me  to  mar  this  harmonious  calm.  Nor  did  it  happen  so,  for, 


A  NIGHT   HUNT   UP   THE   CUNGAMUNCK.  497 

contrary  to  our  expectation,  not  one  showed  itself  to  tempt 
me,  although  it  was  three  miles  up  to  where  this  stream 
outlets  in  Elm  Lake. 

It  was  in  the  last  half  mile  of  our  approach  to  this  and 
around  its  mashy  shores,  that  we  looked  for  the  sport  of  the 
night  to  begin  in  earnest ;  and  any  that  might  have  occurred 
on  the  way  would  have  been  incidental,  and  could  therefore 
be  well  dispensed  with  for  the  higher  and  more  placid  enjoy- 
ment of  the  scene.  As  we  approached  the  Lake  the  stream 
became  more  shallow,  and  we  were  compelled  at  last  to  get 
out  and  let  our  guide  drag  the  boat  up  the  ripples.  The  sun 
was  now  setting,  and  at  the  first  place  where  the  low  water 
thus  compelled  us  to  land  for  a  few  moments,  we  were 
suddenly  introduced  to  that  most  inconceivable  torment,  the 
black  gnat ! 

As  the  shades  of  evening  advance,  these  gnats,  which  at 
first  hover  near  the  surface  of  the  water,  rise  slowly  on  the 
strata  of  miasmatic  air.  Wishing  to  examine  some  object  on 
the  sand-bar  more  closely,  I  stooped,  when  instantly,  as  if  an 
infinitesimal  shower  of  red-hot  sand  or  fine  vitriol  drops 
had  been  clashed  into  my  face  and  eyes,  I  felt  them — blister- 
ing against  neck  and  bosom,  up  sleeves  and  pants,  they  at 
once  invested  me  in  a  maddening  reality  of  the  fabled  terrors 
of  the  shirt  of  Nessus !  No  imagination  is  sufficiently  vivid 
to  conceive  the  intensity  of  that  keen-poisoned,  stinging 
nettle-rash  with  which  we  found  ourselves  suddenly  assailed 
by  this  invisible  torturer  from  Acheron,  rising  to  meet  us  on 
its  thick,  pestilent  airs.  I  did  not  know  what  it  meant  at 
first,  and,  blinded  with  the  pain,  rushed  with  the  instinct  of 
the  cold  water  man,  to  plunge  my  face  in  the  stream  for 
relief.  This  was,  fortunately,  the  best  thing  I  could  have 
done ;  and  I  now  gasped  out,  "  George  !  George  !  what  is 
it!"  "The  gnats,  sir !  the  gnats — you  had  better  put  on 
your  veil !" 

I  did  so  as  quickly  as  possible ;  and  when  I  turned,  there 

32 


498  "WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

stood  Piscator,  with  a  wild  look  of  endurance,  earnestly 
fighting  away  at  his  invisible  torturers  with  a  leafy  bough 
which  he  had  plucked;  his  warm  face  glowed  again  with 
the  malignant  ardor  of  their  stings,  and  he  stopped  at 
intervals  in  the  fierce  battle  to  rub  his  goaded  limbs,  and 
fairly  danced  in  the  restless  shifting  of  his  feet.  Suffering 
as  I  was,  or  rather,  had  been,  I  could  not  help  laughing  at 
the  comical  sight.  But  he  did  not  regard  me,  and  coolly 
proceeded  to  stuff  the  legs  of  his  pants  down  his  boot-tops, 
to  protect  himself  from  their  assaults  in  that  quarter;  and 
then  turning  up  his  coat  collar,  tied  his  handkerchief  about 
his  ears,  and  soon,  with  recovered  equinimaty,  came  smiling 
to  his  seat  in  the  boat,  while  the  bough  played  yet  faster 
about  his  face.  I  could  but  wonder  at  the  man.  I  watched 
him  in  utter  amaze ;  puzzled  whether  most  to  admire  the 
thickness  of  his  skin  or  the  immovability  of  his  temper. 
As  soon  as  the  boat  was  in  motion  they  left  us,  for  they 
were  drifted  behind  on  air-currents  in  our  wake. 

We  were  soon  at  the  wider  mash  meadows,  which  indicated 
our  approach  to  the  outlet  of  Elm  Lake,  and  here  was  the 
ground  where  the  night  hunt  was  to  commence.  Darkness 
had  not  not  yet  settled  down,  and  until  it  came  our  lights 
would  be  of  no  avail;  so  the  oars  were  hid,  and  the  boat 
run  through  the  mash  to  shore,  and  there  we  were  to  stand 
until  it  became  dark  enough  to  light  the  candles ! 

We  stood  underneath  the  bordering  pines,  and  as  soon 
as  we  became  stationary — heavens  and  earth  !  the  dusky  air 
thickened  with  the  black  and  venomous  swarms  of  mosquitos, 
flies  and  gnats,  and  the  hungry  diapason  of  their  blistering 
music  was  fairly  roared  into  our  ears !  No  herd  of  famished 
wolves  was  ever  so  desperately  ravenous  as  this  fierce  multi- 
tude seemed  to  be — for  as  I  was  fully  protected  by  my  veil, 
J  could  afford  to  be  philosophical  in  my  observations  on  the 
Buffering  of  the  two  outside  unfortunates. 

George  was  very  loquacious,  and  having  provided  himself 


A  NIGHT  HUXT   UP   THE   CUNGAMUNCK.  499 

with  a  thick  bough,  kept  that  in  motion  with  his  words; 
for  he  seemed  to  have  a  desperate  sort  of  feeling  that  he 
must  keep  up  our  courage  and  his  own  by  talking,  or  else 
we  would  be  compelled  to  give  in!  He  amused  us  in  this 
trying  interval  with  many  stories  of  his  bold  adventuring 
through  these  northern  snows  (a  fortunate  contrast !)  in 
hunting  the  dangerous  moose.  While  Piscator  puffed  his 
segar — patiently  fought  in  open  battle  his  myriad  foes,  and 
smiled  appreciatingly  through  his  torture  as  the  stories  sped. 
How  I  admired  the  superhuman  heroism  of  the  man  ! 

I  could  not  help  enjoying  the  forlorn  and  melancholy 
efforts  of  the  guide  to  be  merry  in  his  suffering.  But  the 
night  settled  rapidly,  though  it  brought  no  alleviation  of  the 
plague  of  flies,  which  on  warm  evenings  most  abound  after 
sunset  for  some  hours.  Now  George  stepped  cautiously  to 
the  stern  of  the  boat,  and  taking  the  candles  from  the  box, 
proceeded  to  light  them  and  place  them  in  the  triangular 
box  on  the  staff  at  the  bow.  Then  with  great  care  we 
noiselessly  took  our  seats,  and  he  paddled  the  boat  with 
surprising  stillness  up  the  outlet.  Mine  was  the  foremost 
seat — as  allotted — and  though  the  light  above  shone  power- 
fully upon  the  shrubs  and  grass  in  front  of  us  on  the  side 
of  the  channel,  yet  not  one  ray  of  it  fell  upon  me !  So 
with  a  far-thrown  light  before  us,  we  glided  in  darkness  up 
the  channel,  seeing  every  blade  of  grass  as  we  advanced, 
while  we  were  ourselves  unseen !  But  the  sky  had  now 
clouded,  and  the  white  mist  began  to  curl  up  before  us,  and 
we  only  saw  the  rank  grass  and  elder  bushes  in  advance  as 
it  lifted  at  intervals. 

We  glided  through  the  white-wreathed  silence  for  awhile, 
with  the  mash  plants  and  grass  showing  through  the  gloom 
on  one  side,  and  the  tall  shrubs  on  the  other,  when  suddenly 
there  is  a  splashing  to  our  right — the  boat  stops — splash ! 
splash !  splash !  off  they  go  with  a  loud  whistle  as  they 
plunge  away — two  deer  are  gone  !  They  had  been  frightened 


500  WILD   SCENES   AND    WILD   HUNTERS. 

by  the  Incessant  movement  of  our  hands  in  striking  off  the 
clinging  flies ! 

George  curses  strong  and  deep,  "  sotto  voce,"  and  we  move 
on  into  the  lake  without  a  word  from  us.  Now  we  are 
gliding  along  its  marshy  shore,  and  the  only  sound  we  make 
is  that  caused  by  the  low  grating  of  the  bottom  of  our  boat 
against  the  heavy  leaves  of  the  water-lilies,  which  cover  the 
whole  surface  as  far  as  we  can  see,  but  that  is  not  far.  The 
heavy  mist-wreaths  still  curl  up  around  us  and  arching  to 
our  light,  roll  and  spread  their  whitened  volumes  murkily. 
The  slow  boat  ploughs  through  these  fantastic  shapes  as  if 
it  labored  with  their  weight ;  but  now  and  then  an  eddy  of 
the  mountain  wind  lifts  them,  whirling  in  broken  masses, 
and  reveals  the  dark  shadows  of  the  forest  on  the  shore, 
with  the  shining  flags  that  push  up  among  the  bordering 
lilies.  The  night  is  becoming  chill,  and  we  have  crept  into 
every  cove  and  winding  strait  among  the  inlets  along  the 
shore,  and  still  the  same  slow-rising  vapor  twists  and  rolls  in 
huge  white  phantoms,  bushing  past  us ;  and,  lifting  in  solemn 
sweep  upon  the  winds,  the  jaws  of  darkness  open  over 
the  broad  water,  as  if  on  that  side  the  abyss  of  black  infinity 
were  yawning  to  engulph  us.  No  deer  yet,  for  they  seem 
to  have  been  all  startled  by  our  first  misadventure;  we 
should  have  seen  a  dozen  eyes  shine  our  light  before  this ! 
We  are  cold  as  cold  can  be,  for  much  time  has  now  passed} 
and  chilled,  too,  by  the  disappointment.  Now  we  shoot 
into  a  narrow  cove  between  two  islands.  The  long  grass 
and  shrubs  on  either  side  nearly  meet  above  our  heads,  we 
must  move  with  still  greater  caution  lest  we  brush  them. 

Now  the  narrow  way  widens  again  somewhat,  and  we  go 
winding  on,  while  our  advance  light  dawns  with  a  strange 
gleam  beneath  the  curling  vapor  upon  the  dense  wall  of  leafy 
stems  on  either  side,  and  we  seem  urging  up,  among  ghastly 
clouds,  the  glistening  steep  of  night.  It  is  a  wild,  unearthly 
scene ;  we  shudder  with  chilly  awe,  for  the  vast  weight  of 


A  NIGHT  HUNT   UP   THE   CUNGAMUNCK.  501 

midnight  has  crushed  the  world,  the  wide  and  mighty 
world,  into  that  little  circle  of  light  with  its  wizard  shapes, 
thronging  above  and  around  us — all  else  is  void — nothing ! 
nothing ! 

Ha !  close  to  my  hand  a  little  summer  duck  comes  swim- 
ming. That  looks  as  if  there  were  an  outer  world — a 
something  beyond  this  wizzard  chaos  !  See  it  comes  close  in 
our  charmed  circle — it  cannot  get  away.  Its  great  black 
eyes  shine  still,  as  if  it  were  in  a  dream  of  dazzled  splendors, 
it  does  not  see  us,  it  moves  as  the  sleep  walker  moves,  round 
and  round,  yet  not  away.  There,  I  had  nearly  caught  it 
with  my  hand,  but  it  glided  like  a  beam-eyed  shadow  from 
beneath  my  grasp.  It  seems  as  ghostly  as  all  else  here. 

Hark !  a  splashing  plunge  in  the  deep  marsh  to  our  right, 
that  sounds  like  earth — like  a  reality ! 

"Hist!"  says  George,  in  a  whisper,  "rise. up  !  rise  softly, 
he  stands  there — over  the  bushes — see  his  eyes !" 

"  Steady,  George."  I  rise  as  carefully  as  my  stiffened  limbs 
would  permit,  and  now  the  mist-wreaths  on  an  eddy  of  the 
night-wind  rise  with  me.  Slowly  !  slowly  !  See  the  antlered 
head  above  the  cover  and  the  shining  eyes.  A  shrill,  loud 
whistle — I  fire  as  he  bounds — a  heavy  plunge — a  struggle  in 
the  tossing  covert  and  all  is  still ! 

"Youv'e  got  him!  you  got  him  that  time,  sir!"  shouted 
George,  and  the  sound  of  his  human  voice  broke  the  spell 
that  was  upon  me,  as  of  a  heavy  vision,  and  with  a  long 
breath  of  suppressed  excitement,  I  plunge  after  him  to 
assist  in  dragging  our  prey  to  the  boat.  It  was  a  fine  buck, 
and  I  had  shot  him  between  the  eyes.  Ah,  that  was  a 
moment  of  cruel  exultation,  but  I  will  not  tell  you  how  I 
triumphed  at  the  blank  looks  of  poor  Piscator,  when,  as  he 
took  his  seat  now  in  front,  we  discovered  that  the  lights 
were  nearly  exhausted,  and  that  there  would  be  little  chance 
for  him  to  get  a  shot  at  all !  The  candles  soon  gave  out, 


502  WILD   SCENES   AND  WILD   HUNTEKS. 

and  we  got  lost  upon  the  lake,  where  our  bewildered  guide 
continued  to  row  up  and  down  until  nearly  daylight,  through 
the  pitchy  darkness ;  at  last  he  found  a  landing  by  accident, 
and,  nearly  frozen,  we  made  our  way  to  the  house  of  a 
hunter,  whose  kind  hospitality  gave  rest  to  our  weary  and 
chilled  frames. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

TROUTING   ON  JESSUP'S  RIVER. 

could  not  remain  quiet  long  at  a  time,  for  my  restless 
friend  had  not  yet  had  a  fair  trial  of  the  "flies"  at  trout. 
After  all,  laugh  at  Piscator's  violent  passion  for  it  as  I 
may,  the  sport  -which  lasts  longest,  is  the  most  abundant, 
the  most  admired,  and  most  practised  by  the  frequenters  of 
the  Lake  country,  is  that  of  taking  the  speckled  or  brook 
trout  with  the  rod ! 

The  larger  lakes  afford  good  trolling  grounds,  when  resorted 
to  in  the  right  season  ;  but  the  trolling  season,  which  begins 
in  March,  is  too  early  for  the  majority  of  anglers,  who  cannot 
leave  their  spring  business  for  mere  sport.  But  when  summer 
comes,  business  is  over ;  then  the  rejoicing  anglers,  like  chil- 
dren broke  loose  from  school,  scatter  abroad  over  the  moun- 
tainous places  of  the  land,  literally  gasping  with  panting 
bosoms  for  fresh  air. 

To  such  it  makes  little  difference,  when  they  reach  here, 
to  find  that  the  fishing-grounds  for  trout  are  not  close  at 
hand,  but  that  they  must  go  yet  farther  from  five  to  thirty 
miles,  among  the  rough  wild  hills,  to  fresher  streams,  amidst 
valleys  deeper  than  these.  It  seems  strange,  to  be  sure,  and 
very  provoking  to  them,  if  they  go  without  a  proper  knowledge 
of  the  season— to  find  that  these  wide  clear  sheets,  with  all 
their  inlets  and  outlets,  are  but  so  much  dead  water  to  them 
— affording  no  sport  after  the  tenth  of  June,  worth  notice. 
But  they  are  soon  over  this,  for  the  mountain  breezes  are 
very  inspiriting ;  and  with  expanding  chests  they  look  towards 
the  blue  ridges  with  emulation,  and  brace  themselves  up  tc 

503 


604  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

meet  the  rude  exigencies  of  a  "tramp"  and  "shanteeing 
out"  for  a  few  days,  amidst  storm  or  sunshine,  as  the  evening 
heavens  may  send  ! 

"The  Bridge"  at  Jessup's  River,  is  well  known  to  sports- 
men, and  to  this  point  we  made  our  first  fly-fishing  expedition. 
The  eyes  of  Piscator  glistened  at  the  thought,  and  early  was 
he  busied  with  almost  hasty  fingers  through  an  hour  of  ardent 
preparation  amongst  his  varied  and  complicated  tackle.  Now 
was  his  time  for  triumph  !  In  all  the  ruder  sports  in  which 
we  had  heretofore  heen  engaged,  I,  assisted  hy  mere  chance, 
had  been  most  successful — but  now  the  infallible  certainty  of 

* 

skill  and  science  were  to  be  demonstrated  in  himself,  and 
the  orthodoxy  of  flies  vindicated  to  my  unsophistic  sense. 

The  preparations  are  simple,  and  were  early  completed. 
The  tidy  housewife  soon  had  ready  the  huge  loaves  of  fresh 
nice  bread — the  can  of  yellow  butter,  and  other  minor 
appliances  of  a  feast  in  the  woods — the  main  condiments 
and  dishes  of  which  we  were  expected  to  supply  from  our 
own  sharpened  appetites  and  skill.  Then  the  cooking  appa- 
ratus, which  was  primitive  enough  to  suit  the  taste  of  an 
ascetic,  as  it  consisted  in  a  single  frying  pan.  Then  the 
blankets,  with  the  guns,  ammunition,  rods,  &c. 

These  were  all  disposed  in  the  wagon  of  our  host,  which 
stood  ready  at  the  door.  It  was  a  rough  affair,  with  stiff 
wooden  springs,  like  all  those  of  the  country,  and  suited  to 
the  mountainous  roads  they  are  intended  to  traverse,  rather 
than  for  civilized  ideas  of  comfort.  We,  however,  bounded 
into  the  low-backed  seat ;  and  if  it  had  been  cushioned  to  suit 
royalty,  we  could  not  have  been  more  secure  than  we  were 
of  luxurious  comfort — a  fanciful  illusion  which  it  took  but 
little  time,  however,  to  dissipate  in  an  astound,  as  we  found 
ourselves  rumbling,  pitching,  and  jolting  over  a  road  even 
Worse  than  that  which  brought  us  first  to  the  lake.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  nothing  but  the  surprising  docility  of  the 
pretty  span  of  glossy  black  ponies  which  drew  us,  could 


TROUTING   ON   JESSUP's   RIVER.  505 

have  saved  us,  strong  wagon  and  all,  from  a  sudden  return 
to  our  original  atoms.  I  soon  got  tired  of  this,  and  sprang 
out  with  my  gun,  determined  to  foot  it  ahead,  in  the  hope 
of  seeing  a  partridge  or  red  squirrel. 

The  wagon,  with  its  thundering  rumble,  was  soon  left 
behind,  and  for  several  miles  I  tramped  on  alone  through 
the  oppressive  stillness  of  those  old  spruc6  and  hemlock 
forests,  which  line  the  road  upon  the  hill-side  and  down  steep 
shaded  valleys.  It  was  then  I  observed  the  extraordinary- 
stillness,  which  I  found  characterized  the  woods  there,  in 
whatever  direction  I  had  penetrated. 

I  wondered  for  some  time  what  was  the  cause,  and  what 
it  was  I  missed  so  much,  until  I  discovered  the  almost  total 
absence  of  the  different  varieties  of  squirrel.  Then  I  under- 
stood at  once. 

These  creatures  are  the  great  enliveners  of  forest  scenery, 
and  we  unconsciously  as  much  expect  to  hear  them  rattling 
over  the  dry  leaves — their  rustling  leap  from  bough  to  bough 
— the  pattering  of  nuts  they  are  unhusking  over  head — their 
saucy  chattering  and  defiant  bark — or  to  see  their  graceful 
forms  leap  across  the  path — dart  up  and  around  the  standing 
trunks  or  along  the  dead  logs,  as  we  do,  to  see  the  trees 
themselves,  or  hear  the  winds  murmur  through  their  leaves. 
Every  where,  except  in  the  tropics,  they  are  ever-present 
and  more  essential  to  the  complete  characteristics  of  forest 
scenery,  than  even  the  birds  themselves.  This  is  particularly 
the  case  at  the  north,  where  the  varieties  of  the  birds  are 
neither  so  abundantly  musical  or  large  as  in  the  Middle 
States.  I  never  saw  woods  before  through  which  you  might 
walk  all  day,  from  day  to  day,  for  weeks,  and  most  probably 
not  see  or  hear  the  sound  of  a  single  squirrel. 

I  had  spent  much  time  in  the  woods,  and  had  not  been  able 
to  reconcile  myself  to  this  strange  want,  which  impressed  me, 
even  before  I  heard  the  cause,  with  something  like  a  funeral 
desolation — with  the  shadow  of  a  feeling  like  that  which  we 


506  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

would  have  in  walking  through  the  echoing  streets  of  a 
plague-depopulated  city.  I  was  greatly  surprised  when  I 
found  how  analogous  the  case  really  was.  On  inquiring 
among  the  old  hunters,  I  heard  from  them  the  reason. 

In  the  first  place,  the  chickaree,  or  common  red  squirrel, 
is  the  only  one,  except  the  little  chip  squirrel,  they  have 
there  at  all  as  a  resident  variety — for  although  the  gray 
squirrel  has  occasionally  made  its  appearance  for  a  little 
while,  the  black  martin,  which  is  very  abundant,  is  said 
to  enter  its  hole  and  destroy  it,  before  it  has  time  to  breed 
much,  while  the  hole  of  the  chickaree  is  too  small  for  it  to 
gain  admittance.  Well,  about  twenty  years  ago,  the  country 
was  literally  overrun  one  summer  by  a  plague  of  red  squirrels, 
curiously  enough,  too,  accompanied  by  great  numbers  of  the 
little  deer  mouse  or  jumping  mouse.  The  two  united, 
destroyed  nearly  the  whole  of  the  standing  crops  of  grain, 
and  swarmed  over  the  outhouses  and  even  the  dwelling- 
houses  themselves,  and  along  the  fences  by  the  roadside, 
and  indeed  through  the  woods  every  where. 

The  people  were  alarmed  by  the  apprehension  of  great 
loss,  and  even  a  partial  famine,  when  suddenly  the  curse 
was  swept  away  in  a  most  singular  manner.  The  squirrels 
all  at  once  began  to  act  strangely ;  they  were  observed  to 
drag  themselves  slowly  along  the  ground  across  the  roads, 
so  that  the  people  could  crush  them  with  their  heels.  Those 
on  the  fences  would  mope  and  stagger  along  the  rails,  or 
falling  off,  would  be  seen  in  dozens  hanging  by  one  claw, 
until  they  dropped  dead  to  the  ground.  They  could  be 
killed  by  hundreds,  with  a  small  stick,  and  the  very  air 
became  impure  with  the  stench  of  their  dead  bodies.  On 
examination,  it  was  found  they  were  literally  covered  over 
their  whole  bodies  witn  warty  and  vermillion-colorcd  pustules, 
which  looked  very  foul  and  angry.  The  mice  were  visited 
in  the  same  way,  and  nearly  all,  if  not  all,  died  off;  since, 
for  several  years  after,  not  a  creature  of  either  kind  was  to 


TROUTING   ON   JESSUP'S   RIVER.  507 

be  seen,  and  to  this  day  they  have  remained  remarkably 
scarce. 

This  story  seemed  very  strange  to  me,  but  one  day  I  shot 
a  young  red  squirrel,  the  first  I  had  killed  since  I  came — for 
lack  of  opportunity — and  I  found  it  covered  by  this  same 
warty  disease,  which  had  been  described  as  causing  their 
extermination  so  long  ago.  The  pustules  were  quite  small 
upon  it,  and  not  so  thickly  placed  as  in  the  time  of  the 
plague,  when  they  were  as  large  as  a  pea  of  good  size,  and 
there  was  not  the  space  of  a  pin's  head  any  where  between 
them  !  This  accounts  for  their  not  having  increased  more 
rapidly — since  the  fact  shows  that  the  disease  continues  to 
linger  with  them,  preventing,  as  I  suppose,  their  arriving  at 
maturity,  in  the  majority  of  cases. 

But  I  have  gone  a  good  way  aside  from  my  theme  to 
narrate  these  curious  facts,  and  must  get  back  to  the  'Bridge' 
again,  at  which  we  arrived  about  the  middle  of  the  afternoon. 
There  we  found  an  old  field  just  across  the  bridge.  It  was 
called  AVilcox's  Clearing,  and  like  all  such  places  I  had  seen 
in  this  fine  grazing  region,  was  still  well  sodded  down  in 
Timothy,  blue  grass,  and  clover.  Our  luggage  having  been 
deposited  in  the  shantee,  which  consisted  nearly  of  boards 
torn  from  the  old  house,  which  were  leaned  against  the  sides 
of  two  forks,  placed  a  few  feet  apart,  we  set  off  at  once  for 
the  Falls,  a  short  distance  above.  This  was  merely  an  initial 
trial,  to  obtain  enough  for  dinner,  and  find  the  prognostics 
of  the  next  day's  sport  in  feeling  the  manner  of  the  fish. 

At  the  Falls  the  river  is  only  about  fifteen  feet  wide, 
though  its  average  width  is  from  twenty-five  to  thirty.  The 
water  tumbles  over  a  ledge  of  about  ten  feet,  at  the  bottom 
of  which  is  a  fine  hole,  while  on  the  surface  sheets  of  foam 
are  whirled  round  and  round  upon  the  tormented  eddies — for 
the  stream  has  considerable  volume  and  power. 

We  stepped  cautiously  along  the  ledge,  Piscator  ahead,  and 
holding  his  precious  flies  ready  for  a  cast,  which  was  most 


508  WILD   SCENES   AND  WILD  HUNTEKS. 

artistically  made,  not  without  a  glance  of  triumphing  pity  at 
poor  me,  who  was  preparing  to  do  the  same  with  the  humble 
angle-worm.  The  'flies'  fall — I  see  the  glance  of  half  a 
dozen  golden  sides  darting  at  them — but,  by  this  time,  nry; 
own  cast  is  made,  and  I  am  fully  occupied  with  the  struggles 
of  a  fine  trout. 

What  a  thrilling  sensation  it  is ! — the  bite  of  the  first 
trout ! — renewed  each  season,  too,  in  all  the  strength  of 
novelty,  when  you,  perhaps,  for  the  fiftieth  time  after  the 
weary  interval  otherwise  employed,  feel  again  the  electric 
shock  of  its  pull,  communicated  through  your  arm  to  all 
your  frame — the  heart  bounds  as  gladly,  and  the  eyes  gleam 
in  as  wild  an  ecstacy  of  delight,  for  the  moment,  as  on  your 
boyhood's  first  capture.  But  the  'black  flies'  swarmed  by 
this  time  with  such  a  wounding,  maddening  buzz  into  my 
eyes,  nostrils  and  mouth,  behind  my  ears,  and  up  my  sleeves, 
that  no  mortal  enthusiasm  could  stand  it  any  longer. 

"Here,  George,  in  heaven's  name  take  my  rod!  My  veil! 
— where  is  it  ?  I  have  forgotten  it !" 

"No,  here  it  is — I  thought  of  it!"  and  he  drew  it  from 
his  bosom.  How  I  blessed  the  fellow !  It  was  on  and 
adjusted  in  an  instant — and  then  I  had  time  to  draw  a 
long  breath  and  look  around  me. 

"  Hey !  seven  trout.  What,  did  I  catch  all  those  in  this 
little  while  ?"  I  exclaimed,  in  a  surprise  not  very  compli- 
mentary to  Piscator's  '  flies.' 

"I  caught  one  of  'em!"  growled  he — while  he  persever- 
ingly  whipped  the  foam  with  his  flies.  I  turned  towards 
him,  and  through  my  green  veil  his  forlorn,  despairing  face 
looked  jaundiced.  I  was  moved  to  pity. 

"  Try  the  worms,  good  Piscator — here  they  are.  This  is 
not  the  right  time  of  day  for  them  to  take  the  flies  in  this 
river,  I  judge !" 

He  was  soothed,  and  eagerly  improving  the  door  of  escape 
thus  opened  to  him,  took  off  the  flies  and  used  worms  with 


TROUTING   ON  JESSUP'g   RIVER.  509 

immediate  and  brilliant  success,  which  brought  back  the 
placid  smile  to  his  face,  and  he  would  now  and  then  as 
calmly  brush  away  the  distracting  swarm  of  flies  from  his 
face,  as  if  they  had  been  mere  innocent  motes.  He  had 
only  taken  the  one  with  his  flies  at  the  first  instant  of  his 
cast — and  afterward,  not  a  single  trout  would  rise  to  them. 
But  later  that  evening  came  a  temporary  triumph  for  Piscator. 
The  hole  at  the  Falls  was  soon  exhausted,  and  we  moved  on 
down  to  glean  the  ripples.  It  was  nearly  sundown,  and  here 
the  pertinacious  Piscator  determined  to  try  the  flies  again. 
He  cast  with  three,  and  instantly  struck  two  half-pound 
trout,  which,  after  a  spirited  play,  he  safely  landed.  Never 
did  I  see  so  proud  a  look  of  exulting  triumph  as  that  which 
glowed  upon  his  as  he  bade  me  "look  there!"  when  he  landed 
them. 

"  Very  fine,  Piscator  !  a  capital  feat !  but  I  fear  it  was  an 
accident !  You  will  not  get  any  more  that  way  !" 

"We  shall  see,  sir!"  said  he  proudly,  and  commenced 
whipping  the  water  again,  but  to  no  avail,  while  I  continued 
throwing  them  out  with  great  rapidity. 

I  carefully  abstained  from  watching  him,  for  I  had  no 
desire  to  spoil  his  evening  sport  by  taunting  him,  to  continue 
his  experiment.  I  soon  observed  him  throwing  out,  the  fish 
with  great  spirit  again.  I  merely  shouted  to  him  across  the 
stream — "  The  angle-worm,  once  more,  Piscator  ?" 

"Yes  !"  with  a  laugh. 

As  the  sun  went  down,  the  black  gnats  began  to  make 
themselves  felt  in  their  smarting  and  infinitesimal  myriads, 
and  we  forthwith  beat  a  hasty  retreat  to  the  shantee.  These 
creatures,  which  are  the  most  diabolical  pests  that  ever 
haunted  the  air  and  water-side,  are,  I  think,  identical  with 
the  sand  fly  in  Texas — where  it  is  the  terror  of  all  low,  sandy, 
bottom  lands,  and  valleys  below  the  sea  range.  It  follows 
the  black  fly,  which  is  about  half  the  size  and  a  good  deal  the 
shape  of  the  common  house  fly.  About  an  hour  after  its 


510  "WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

appearance  in  the  afternoon,  and  its  coming  is  considered 
the  universal  signal  for  retreat  from  the  fishing  grounds,  as 
no  heroism,  not  even  that  of  Piscator,  could  long  withstand 
their  assaults. 

We  had  taken  about  ten  pounds  of  trout ;  and  the  first 
procedure,  after  reaching  the  camp,  was  to  build  a  '  smudge,' 
or  smoke-fire,  to  drive  away  these  abominable  gnats,  which 
fortunately,  take  flight  with  the  first  whiff  of  smoke — and  the 
next  was  to  prepare  the  fish  for  dinner,  though  not  till  all 
had  been  carefully  dressed  by  the  guide,  and  placed  in  the 
cold  current  of  the  little  spring  stream  near,  that  they  might 
keep  sound. 

Now  came  the  rousing  fire,  and  soon  some  splendid  trout 
were  piled  upon  dishes  of  fresh  pealed  elm  bark  before  us. 
They  were  very  skillfully  cooked,  and  0,  ye  deluded  Epicu- 
reans !  let  me  tell  ye !  ye  know  not,  on  your  rich  and 
massive  plate,  the  true  flavor  of  this  rare  morsel  for  the  Gods 
to  smack  their  lips  at,  that  I  took  up  in  my  fingers  from  the 
bark  dish — no,  the  ripe,  high  color  of  the  flesh — the  sweet, 
melting,  luscious,  glorious  titillation  of  the  palate  by  which  I 
was  exalted  there  in  that  rude  shantee,  to  the  highest  heaven 
of  the  sense,  you  cannot  know !  The  exquisite  aroma  has 
passed  away  before  it  reaches  you,  fading  with  the  splendid 
colors  of  the  skin,  and  ye  cannot  catch  it !  Not  all  your 
wealth  can  transport  it  in  the  season,  delicious  as  we  had  it. 
You  can  get  them  so  in  the  winter,  when  it  is  cold  enough  to 
freeze  them  instantly  on  coming  from  the  water,  but  not 
otherwise. 

The  feast  being  over,  then  to  recline  back  upon  the  fresh 
couch  of  soft  spruce  boughs,  and  with  a  cigar  in  mouth,  watch 
the  gathering  '  night-shades '  brooding  lower  and  more  low 
upon  the  thick  wild  forest  in  front — far  into  the  depths  of 
which  the  leaping  flames  of  our  crackling  fire  go,  darting 
now  and  then  with  a  revealing  tongue  of  quick  light — and 
listening  to  the  owl  make  hoarse  answer  to  the  wolf  afar  off 


TROUTING   ON   JESSUP'S   RIVER.  511 

— to  think  of  wild  passages  in  a  life  of  adventure  years  ago 
amidst  surroundings  such  as  this ;  with  the  additional  spice 
of  peril  from  savage  and  treacherous  foes,  and  then,  as  the 
hushed  life  subsides  into  a  stiller  mood,  see  the  faces  of  loved 
ones  come  to  you  through  the  darkness,  with  a  smile  from  oui 
your  distant  home,  and  while  it  sinks  sweetly  on  your  heart, 
subside  into  happy  and  dream-peopled  slumber !  "  This  !  this 
is  bliss  !"  the  bliss  of  the  shantee  to  the  wearied  sportsman ! 
a  bliss  unattainable  to  the  sluggish  and  jaded  gourmand  of 
the  city ! 

We  were  on  foot  with  the  sun  next  morning,  and  after 
another  feast,  which  we  appreciated  with  unpalled  appetites, 
we  set  off  for  some  deep  spring  holes  nearly  a  mile  above  the 
Falls.  The  morning  set  cloudy,  and  rain  fell  piteously  for 
several  hours.  During  this  time  we  had  reached  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  holes,  after  an  abominably  rough  scramble 
along  the  mountain  side ;  and  here  George  set  to  work  to 
construct  a  raft  of  the  decayed  spruce  which  stood  around. 
This  completed,  it  was  launched  with  great  labor  into  the 
Stream  ;  and  as  the  day  was  beginning  to  clear  off,  Piscator 
BO  far  conquered  his  horror  of  getting  wet,  as  to  agree  to 
start.  "We  pulled  noiselessly  up  to  the  spring  hole,  and 
found  it  very  deep,  and  quite  large  for  the  general  size 
of  the  stream. 

The  instant  my  hook  was  in  the  water,  a  fine  trout  was 
hung,  and  even  Piscator,  who  still  persevered  with  the 
flies,  was  successful  the  first  cast,  as  usual.  But  as  no 
further  notice  was  taken  of  the  flies  by  the  trout,  and  I 
continued  to  pull  out  the  noble  fellows  as  fast  as  I  could 
throw  my  hook  in,  he  changed  very  quickly  again  to  the 
worm.  The  sport  was  now  magnificent,  and  all  the  time, 
one  line  or  the  other  was  singing  through  the  deep  water  to 
the  struggles  of  a  trout,  and  often  both  at  the  same  time. 
We  found  the  raft  very  convenient,  for  having  no  landing 


512  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

net,  "while  they  were  playing  vigorously,  we  would  take  them 
on  a  spring  upward  through  the  water,  and  by  a  quick  move- 
ment, adding  to  their  impetus,  would  land  them  on  the  raft. 
We  took  several  of  that  most  splendidly  beautiful  of  all  trout, 
the  "red  bellied" — for  their  bellies  are  as  if  of  burnished 
gold,  heated  to  a  red  heat,  while  the  spots  upon  their  sides 
fairly  glitter,  while  their  fins  are  black,  bordered  with  white. 

The  moment  they  were  hooked,  we  could  see  their  sides 
flash  up  from  the  depths  of  the  hole  like  the  gleam  of  an 
angry  blaze,  and  they  shot  like  fiery  meteors  through  the 
air  as  they  leaped  from  it.  We  moved  on  slowly  down  the 
stream  with  our  raft,  after  they  ceased  to  bite  here,  and  took 
from  one  to  two  and  four  pounds  from  every  hole  we  passed, 
until  I  became  weary  of  the  sport,  and  even  Piscator  con- 
fessed himself  for  once  to  have  had  enough  of  trout  fishing. 
The  time  had  come  for  our  return  home,  and  now  the  inter- 
minable rain  set  in  again  more  violently  than  ever,  and  our 
guide,  who  had  fifty  pounds  of  trout  upon  his  shoulder, 
shrank  from  clambering  back  over  the  mountain  with  such  a 
burden,  and  we  landed  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  to 
return  by  a  new  and  longer  though  more  level  route. 

Of  all  the  dismal  and  exhausting  walks  ever  taken,  this 
seemed  to  me  the  most  so.  A  violent  west  wind  ha-d  set  in, 
dashing  on  its  cold  current  the  colder  rain  into  our  faces. 
We  were  chilled  and  wet  in  an  instant  after  starting.  Much 
of  the  way  led  through  a  deep  tangle  of  elder  and  raspberry 
bushes,  which  were  as  high  as  our  heads,  and  bent  with  the 
burden  of  icy  rain  drops.  So  this  gave  us  a  double  bath. 
We  managed — or,  our  guide  did  for  us ! — to  get  lost  in  the 
bargain ;  had  five  miles  to  tramp  through  the  thick  pine 
woods,  plunging  through  swamps,  and  stumbling  into  deep 
holes,  over  roots,  dead  trees,  and  rocks.  There  was  one 
comfort  before  us,  at  least,  the  prospect  that  we  should  find 
our  host  waiting  for  us  at  the  bridge  with  the  wagon. 


TROUTING   ON  JESSUP'S   RIVER.  513 

On  we  staggered  bravely — splash  !  splash  !  drip  !  drip  ; 
Above  us,  under,  and  on  every  side,  the  gelid  rain  !  As  is 
an  incessant  shower  bath,  far  more  exhausting  than  a  pro- 
tracted plunge — so  was  this  wading  through  wet  bushes 
beneath  the  pitiless  pelting  rain.  I  am  sure  that  it  abstracted 
a  greater  amount  of  vital  heat  and  strength  from  us  than 
wading  the  same  length  of  time  in  cold  water  would  have 
done.  At  least  I  never  remember  to  have  been  more  utterly 
exhausted  than  when  we  reached  the  bridge,  and  found,  to 
our  great  joy,  the  wagon  in  waiting. 

Fortunately,  our  host  had  been  prudent  enough  to  bring 
blankets  with  him,  and  wrapping  our  shivering  bodies  in 
these,  we  hurried  off  on  our  return.  It  was  no  use  going 
to  our  shantee  for  comfort — the  fire  was  out,  and  the  rain 
had  set  in  for  a  week  to  come,  and  it  was  a  poor  affair  at 
best.  Though  it  was  a  break-neck  road,  I  urged  him  with 
chattering  teeth,  to  drive  faster ;  but  the  immovable  Piscator 
quietly  suggested  that  I  should  "take  it  easy!"  I  stared  at 
the  man,  for  I  was  excessively  nervous  and  irritable,  politely 
wishing  him  in  a  warmer  place  with  his  philosophy.  He  only 
laughed,  and  as  that  made  me  still  more  angry,  I  was  soon 
nearly  warmed  up  again. 

Strange  as  the  remedy  may  seem  to  those  who  are  not 
familiar  with  the  miracles  of  bathing,  I  took  forthwith  a  bath 
of  very  cold  water  on  reaching  home.  This  warmed  me 
instantly  and  thoroughly,  and  then  the  flesh  brush  and  dry 
clothes  completed  the  magical  process  of  immediate  transfer 
from  the  arctic  to  the  tropics,  which  my  sensations  underwent, 
without  the  aid  of  fire  or  sun. 

I  never  felt  more  delightfully  than  I  did  when  I  sat  down 
to  a  fine  dinner  that  evening  in  the  old  Tavern,  and  very 
much  of  this  pleasurable  feeling  of  entire  comfort  I  attributed 
to  the  prompt  use  of  the  cold  bath.  I  have  mentioned 
Piscator's  hydrophobia,  so  far  as  the  external  application  of 

33 


514  fcTLD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

cold  water  was  concerned,  and  the  fact,  that  when  we  met 
at  table,  he  appeared,  in  spite  of  his  philosophy,  far  from 
refreshed  or  cheerful,  I  could  not  help  attributing  it  to 
his  neglect  of  this  precaution.  Poor  Piscator,  with  all  his 
puisance  in  '  flies,'  his  appetite  for  that  delicious  trout  dinner 
failed  him. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

ANECDOTES   OF   MOOSE   AND   DEER    HUNTING   AMONG    THE 
NORTHERN    LAKES. 

I  HAVE  already  furnished  a  description  of  two  modes  of 
hunting  deer,  practised  in  the  lake  country ;  one  by  driving 
them  into  the  lake,  the  other,  by  candle  light  on  the  marsh. 
These  are  methods  almost  peculiar  to  this  Ariondack  region^ 
•while  there  are  several  more  which  they  practice  there,  in 
common  with  many  other  parts,  such  as  driving  on  the 
"run-ways" — still-hunting,  and  hunting  on  the  "crust"  with 
snow-shoes, 

Deer  are  so  surprisingly  abundant,  that  it  is  worth  while 

515 


516  WILD  SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

to  know  something  of  the  how,  the  wherefore  and  the  when 
of  all  these  methods — for  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that 
you  can  get  this  game,  and  an  abundance  of  it,  if  you  only 
go  at  the  right  time,  and  seek  it  in  the  right  way. 

The  two  favorite  methods  of  taking  deer  are  running  them 
into  the  lake,  and  hunting  them  on  the  crust — the  first  for 
summer  and  fall,  the  other  for  winter,  of  course. 

The  proper  time  for  the  first  method  is  about  the  beginning 
of  September — when  the  down  is  off  their  horns,  and  they 
are  getting  into  the  "blue  coat."  That  is — the  season  may 
be  said  to  be  then  commenced,  for,  of  course,  the  deer  are 
improving  every  day.  In  three  weeks  more  they  will  be 
"  seal  fat,"  and  will  take  to  the  water  almost  as  soon  as  you 
start  them.  This  sport  continues  until  the  lakes  freeze  over, 
when  hunting  on  the  crust  takes  its  place. 

Driving  on  the  run-ways  is  not  much  practiced  here,  for 
the  run-ways  are  so  numerous  that  it  requires  a  large  company 
to  man  them  all,  which  must  be  done  in  most  instances  to 
insure  sport,  since  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  tell  through 
which  of  them  all  the  deer  will  pass  a  second  time. 

But  as  I  could  at  any  time  start  a  deer  within  half  a  mile 
of  where  I  then  quartered,  at  a  rude  farm  house  near  a  small 
lake,  and  that  within  the  hour,  too,  by  the  help  of  the  old 
hound,  Ring,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  I  have  several 
times  succeeded,  with  all  the  uncertainty,  in  getting  a  deer 
on  the  run-way.  None  but  a  native,  with  his  fly-proof  skin, 
can  evei  do  much  at  ''still  hunting"  here,  so  long  as  the 
warm  weither  lasts, — for  as  the  whole  success  of  this  hunt 
depends  upon  your  preserving  the  most  perfect  and  statue-like 
stillness,  it  requires  a  test  of  heroism  which  I  could  never 
bring 'myself  up  to  meet.  It  is  easy  enough  to  find  where 
the  deer  arc,  and  even  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  them  or  hear 
them  as  they  run  off,  but  your  hands  must  be  going  so 
incessantly,  for  the  protection  of  your  excoriated  face  and 
neck,  that  tht  wary  and  keen-sighted  creatures  are  almost 


CRUST  AND   LAKE   HUNTING.  517 

sure  to  see  you  first,  and  then  you  only  get  whistled  at  by 
them  for  your  pains  ! 

So  that,  after  trying  every  other  mode  of  summer  and  fall 
hunting,  you  are  compelled  to  fall  back  upon  the  lakes  at 
last.  Round  Lake  and  Pleasant  used  to  be  famous  for  this 
hunt,  but  they  have  fallen  greatly  into  disrepute  now ;  though 
it  is  still  very  easy  any  warm  morning  to  drive  a  deer  into 
this  end  of  Lake  Pleasant,  as  I  have  found  by  repeated 
experiments. 

However,  there  are  other  lakes  at  hand  where  the  sport 
is  much  more  exciting  and  sure.  Whittaker  Lake  is  now 
more  resorted  to,  and  that,  too,  with  more  surprising  success, 
than  any  other  nearer  than  Louis  Lake.  It  always  has  been, 
and  must  continue,  so  long  as  there  are  any  deer  in  the 
country,  to  be  the  favorite  place  of  refuge  for  them,  on  account 
of  its  peculiar  conformation.  Its  two  islands,  and  the  many 
narrow  coves  for  which  it  is  peculiar,  offer  many  facilities 
for  ready  escape,  by  losing  the  dogs.  In  this  hunt  there 
should  generally  be  at  least  two  boats  on -the  lake.  This 
is  particularly  necessary  at  Whittaker,  where  there  were 
formerly  two  boats.  To  give  some  idea  of  the  method  of 
conducting  this  hunt,  practiced  by  the  natives  here,  each 
of  whom  is  a  good  oarsman  of  course,  I  will  give  an  outline 
of  what  three  men  accomplished  in  a  single  day's  hunt. 

Three  is  the  proper  number  to  act  without  mutual  embar- 
rassment, two  to  man  the  boats  and  one  to  "put  out"  the 
dogs.  This  party  had  two  dogs,  one  of  which  was  remarkably 
sagacious  and  well  trained.  They  shanteed  on  the  shore 
the  over  night,  and  the  dogs  were  put  out  by  sunrise  in 
the  morning. 

The  two  boatmen,  or  rather  one  in  a  boat  and  the  other  in 
a  small  canoe,  took  position ;  the  boat  hid  in  the  grass  of  the 
marsh  at  one  end,  and  the  canoe  under  the  alders  at  the 
point  of  one  of  the  islands.  In  a  very  short  time  a  large 
buck  came  splashing  through  the  marsh  in  a  terrible  panic, 


518  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

and  nearly  ran  over  the  man  in  the  boat,  who  shot  him  before 
he  reached  the  deep  water.  The  dogs  were  then  put  out 
again,  and  before  ten  o'clock  they  brought  another  deer 
down  to  the  water — but  this  fellow  skulked,  swam  across  a 
narrow  cove,  and  made  off  again.  He  did  not  return  to  this 
lake,  which  is  very  unusual,  but  made  off  to  another,  Elm 
Lake,  three  miles  distant.  The  dogs  were  not  reclaimed 
until  noon.  After  feeding  and  a  short  rest,  they  were  put 
out  for  a  third  race,  and  in  a  little  while  drove  in  a  third 
deer,  which  struck  out  for  the  widest  part  of  the  lake. 

Both  hunters  started  in  pursuit ;  the  oarsman  cut  it  off 
from  land,  and  the  boatsman,  who  was*  furnished  with  a  long, 
forked  stick,  across  the  prongs  of  which  a  slip-noose  of  rope 
was  tied,  now  came  up  by  the  side  of  the  swimming  deer, 
and  threw  the  rope  over  its  head.  It  plunged  very  violently, 
but  in  spite  of  its  struggles  he  pushed  its  head  under  water 
with  the  assistance  of  the  fork,  and  soon  drowned  it.  This 
was  a  fine  doe. 

The  dogs  were  again  put  out,  and  after  a  long  race  brought 
in  a  yearling  spike  buck.  It  came  to  the  water  twice,  but 
as  it  had  the  wind  of  the  two  hunters,  both  times  it  turned 
and  went  out.  It  came  at  last  on  the  opposite  side,  and 
struck  right  out  for  the  open  water.  The  canoe  man  did 
not  succeed  in  cutting  it  off  this  time,  and  it  reached  one 
of  the  islands.  The  boatman  shot  at  it  as  it  Avas  going  out, 
and  missed. 

They  then  took  a  position  on  each  side  to  prevent  its 
escape,  while  "  Old  Sound,"  who  had  reached  the  shore,  and 
comprehended  in  a  moment  how  matters  were,  swam  to  the 
island  and  soon  routed  the  little  buck,  which  now  attempted 
to  reach  the  second  island.  The  man  in  the  canoe  cut  it 
off  this  time,  and  darting  up  alongside  of  it  as  it  swam, 
seized  it  by  its  short  horns,  and  drawing  its  head  back,  cut 
its  throat. 

But  the  bcaiman  in  the  meantime  had  his  hands  full  as 


CRUST  AND   LAKE   HUNTING.  519 

well.  He  bad  not  time  to  load  his  gun  or  see  what  became 
of  the  young  buck,  for  the  other  dog  had  brought  down  an 
enormous  old  buck,  which  took  water  at  the  same  time  near 
him.  He  lay  still  and  let  it  swim  out  some  distance,  and 
then  gave  chase.  He  was  soon  up  with  him  in  wide  water, 
and  attempted  to  throw  the  noose  over  its  horns.  The  buck 
showed  fight,  and  striking  up,  suddenly  knocked  the  stick 
from  his  grasp.  Then,  with  stiffened  bristles,  and  a  hoarse 
low  of  wrath,  it  raised  itself  in  the  water,  and  planted  its 
fore-feet  on  the  side  of  the  boat. 

The  man  was  too  old  a  hunter  to  be  much  alarmed,  though 
the  deer  seemed  determined  to  turn  the  boat  over  or  get  in. 
The  gun  was  empty,  as  we  have  said,  but  these  men  always 
throw  a  stout  club  of  heavy  green  wood  into  the  bottom  of 
the  boat  to  provide  against  contingencies  such  as  these  • 
indeed,  they  frequently  take  nothing  else  with  them,  as  this 
is  usually  sufficient  to  kill  any  deer.  A  rapping  blow  across 
the  head  with  this  club  caused  the  buck  to  drop  back  into 
the  water,  with  his  courage  considerably  cooled. 

However,  it  soon  renewed  the  fight,  and  as  it  caught  most 
of  the  blows  aimed  at  its  head  upon  its  immense  horns,  the 
man  found  he  had  both  a  tough  and  a  dangerous  job  before 
him.  The  deer,  in  the  meantime,  was  making  gradually  for 
the  shore,  and  the  hunter  saw  that  it  would  effect  its  escape 
at  last,  if  he  continued  to  fight — so  he  directed  all  his  efforts 
to  turning  it  off  from  shore,  shouting  at  the  same  time  to  hia 
comrade  for  help.  He  was  nearly  worn  out  with  fatigue, 
and  had  received  several  severe  blows  from  the  horns  c* 
the  deer,  when  his  friend  came  to  his  assistance  and  ft  it 
it  through  the  head. 

It  was  now  nearly  dark,  and  with  four  deer  as  the  result 
of  one  day's  sport,  they  returned  perfectly  satisfied,  as  well 
as  worn  out,  to  their  shantee  for  the  night.  This  day's 
work,  though  an  unusually  successful  one,  will  stand  in  it-3 
modes  and  incidents,  for  a  pretty  fair  epitone  of  the  sport 


520  WILD    SCENES    AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

of  "  driving  deer  into  the  lake !"  The  Piseco  Club  boast 
of  having  noosed  a  buck  and  taken  him  a  prisoner  to  shore, 
and  tied  him  up  to  a  tree.  But  this  is  a  feat  very  easy  of 
accomplishment,  so  far  as  noosing  the  deer  is  concerned; 
though,  I  suppose,  no  one  else  would  fancy  the  troublesome 
and  useless  job  of  getting  the  animal  out  of  the  water  alive. 

The  boatman  often  takes  the  deer  by  the  tail,  and  makes 
it  draw  the  boat ;  and  I  know  of  instances  where  the  perilous 
feat  of  seizing  a  buck  by  the  horns,  and  holding  its  head 
under  water  until  drowned,  has  been  performed.  But  such 
feats  as  this  last  are  as  rare  as  they  are  unwise.  The  most 
amusing  instance  I  have  heard,  though,  of  these  attempts 
to  capture  a  grown  animal,  is  furnished  in  that  which  was 
made  by  a  party  of  sagacious  hunters  in  this  neighborhood, 
a  winter  ago,  to  take  an  old  bull  moose  alive  with  ropes. 
As  this  leaves  the  feat  of  the  Piseco  Club  far  in  the  shade, 
I  am  tempted  to  give  it. 

Some  lucky  hunter  had  lately  succeeded  in  capturing  a 
couple  of  moose  alive,  and  had  sold  them  to  a  menagerie 
company  for  a  round  sum.  This  set  all  the  hunters  in  a 
furor  to  capture  live  moose.  The  yard  of  a  famous  largo 
bull  having  been  discovered  by  a  half-breed  Indian  hunter, 
he  was  accompanied  by  several  of  the  hunters  about  Lake 
Pleasant,  on  a  grand  turn-out  to  make  the  attempt  upon  this 
fellow.  The  snow  was  very  deep,  and  the  moose  was  soon 
brought  to  a  stand  by  the  men  on  their  snow-shoes.  When 
they  came  up,  they  found  he  had  backed  himself  into  a 
strong  position,  with  the  roots  of  a  torn-up  tree  in  his  rear, 
on  one  side,  and  a  great  shelving  rock  on  the  other.  He 
was  an  enormous  fellow,  and  they  proceeded  to  make  their 
demonstrations  with  most  respectful  caution. 

One  of  the  party  ascended  the  trunk  of  the  inclining  tree 
from  his  rear,  and  climbing  thence  on  to  the  shelving  rock 
above,  from,  as  he  supposed,  a  very  safe  elevation,  succeeded 
in  throwing  a  rope-noose  over  one  of  its  spreading  antlers. 


CRUST  AND   LAKE  HUNTING.  521 

Another  adventurer,  more  daring  than  the  first,  took  up 
a  position  on  the  trunk  of  a  fallen  tree,  almost  touching 
the  flanks  of  the  animal  w!th  his  feet,  and  reaching  over 
dropped  a  second  rope  upon  its  horns,  and  was  proceeding 
triumphantly  to  give  it  a  turn  around  the  trunk,  thinking 
they  had  it  all  safe  now.  The  creature  shook  its  head,  and 
making  a  sudden  plunge  forward,  jerked  the  men  headfore- 
most from  both  rocky  shelf  and  log,  snapping  their  nooses. 
They  fell  against  the  hinder  parts  of  the  moose ;  hut  as  those 
in  front,  seeing  their  danger,  made  a  great  clamor  at  the 
moment,  the  animal  did  not  notice  them;  though,  as  it 
retreated  hack  to  its  strong  position,  it  trampled  upon  their 
prostrate  forms  with  its  hind  feet.  The  fellows  yelled  to 
them  to  shoot,  but  as  they  had  irritated  the  moose  in  front,  it 
mado  a  dash  at  them  again,  and  they  crawled  out  considerably 
bruised.  Not  discouraged  by  any  means,  as  yet,  another 
of  the  party  succeeded  in  getting  hold  of  the  end  of  the 
broken  rope,  and  this  was  immediately  secured  to  a  limb 
of  the  fallen  tree  once  more. 

They  now  thought  they  were  certain  to  triumph,  as  they 
roped  its  horns  more  securely  than  before,  and  proceeded  to 
throw  slip-nooses  among  its  feet,  in  the  hope  that  it  might 
step  into  them,  and  that  they  would  then  be  able  to  throw  it. 
It  was  very  wary  of  the  ropes.  They  thus  caught  one  foot 
only,  after  worrying  the  whole  day  with  the  creature,  and 
getting  several  of  the  party  even  more  severely  hurt.  But 
when  the  hunter  who  had  this  rope,  and  who  was  standing 
directly  in  front  of  the  infuriated  animal,  attempted  to  jerk 
the  foot  from  under  it,  it  made  one  tremendous  surge  at  him, 
snapped  the  rope  about  its  horns,  and  tossed  him  into  the  air 
some  ten  feet  on  its  broad,  snow-shoveling  antlers — while  the 
second  hero  of  the  ropes  on  the  log  had  his  legs  jerked  from 
under  him,  and  fell  as  the  first  had  fallen.  There  was  a 
frightened  scattering  of  the  whole  party  this  time  in  earnest, 
while  the  moose,  with  bristling  sulkia'ss,  retreated  again  to 


522  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

its  old  position.  The  bruised  and  crippled  hunter  who  had 
been  thus  summarily  tossed,  seized  his  gun,  limped  up  close 
to  the  moose,  and  shot  it  dead  in  his  rage,  just  as  if  he  had 
any  right  to  have  expected  any  other  treatment  for  his  folly. 

This  party  was  thoroughly  satisfied  with  their  single  experi- 
ment, and  have  very  safely  promised  their  anxious  mothers 
and  sweethearts,  never  to  make  another  such. 

But  crust  hunting  is  by  far  the  most  destructive  method 
of  pursuing  the  deer  known  in  this  region.  The  deer  form 
"yards"  on  the  bleak  northern  sides  of  the  mountains,  and 
the  ,e  are  sometimes  five  or  six  miles  in  extent,  and  containing 
iv  great  number  of  deer.  They  have  deep  roads  or  paths 
leading  in  every  direction,  through  the  snow,  and  will  never 
leave  these  unless  forced  by  the  dog  to  do  so.  The  deer 
seldom  runs  far,  but  stops  to  fight  until  the  hunter  comes 
up  and  kills  it  with  his  rifle,  and  sometimes  with  a  club 
or  axe. 

There  is  a  well  authenticated  instance  in  illustration,  that 
I  will  relate.  My  guide  has  been  a  famous  hunter  in  his 
day.  When  he  was  about  sixteen  his  father  lived  upon  t  h>gh 
hill,  in  sight  of  my  shantee.  In  a  valley  half  a  milj  from 
the  hut,  he  had  a  small  sugar  camp.  One  bright  morning, 
early  in  March,  when  a  slight  snow  had  fallen  over  night, 
upon  the  old  crust,  which  was  thin  and  melted  through 
in  places,  Clark,  who  was  a  stout  jv,-uth,  started  to  the 
sugar  camp  to  clean  and  set  the  troughs,  as  it  promised  to 
be  a  fine  day  for  the  sap  to  run.  He  said  he  would  be  back 
in  time  for  breakfast,  and  followed  by  a  noble  hound,  he  was 
soon  out  of  sight. 

'o><3  family  waited  and  waited  in  vain  for  his  return,  until 
noon,  when  his  father,  overcome  by  uneasiness,  starfcd  in 
pursuit  of  the  boy — for  knowing  that  he  had  no  kind  of 
weapon,'  not  even  a  pocket-knife,  with  him,  he  could  not 
but  fear  that  some  accidout  had  happened.  He  met  him 
returning,  panting  up  the  hill. 


CRUST  AND   LAKE  HUNTING.  523 

"  Why,  Clark !  what  in  the  name  of  wonder  has  been 
keeping  you  all  the  morning  ?" 

"  I  got  myself  into  business,  and  had  it  to  attend  to  ;  I've 
been  killing  deer !" 

"  Killing  deer  ?  What,  did  you  gouge  their  eyes  out  ? 
you'r  got  nothing  about  you  to  kill  deer  with." 

"  But  I  found  a  spruce  knot  that  answered !" 

The  boy  then  went  on  to  relate  how  he  had  found  the 
tracks  of  four  deer  that  had  come  into  the  sugar  camp. 
The  dog  pursued  them.  It  should  be  explained  that  the 
spring  thaw  had  commenced,  and  the  snow  was  nearly  melted 
down,  except  under  the  shade  of  the  deep  woods,  where  it 
was  as  deep  as  ever,  and  the  crust  so  thin  that  the  deer  went 
through  easily.  So  soon  as  they  came  to  the  deep  snow  the 
dog  stopped  one.  The  boy  followed  along,  and  where  the 
snow  had  thawed  he  found  an  old  spruce  log  of  great  size, 
which  had  fallen  into  decay  and  left  the  knots  of  the  limbs, 
which  run  back  clear  into  the  heart,  round  as  ever  and  heavy 
almost  as  iron.  Clark  snatched  up  one  of  these,  and  when 
he  came  in  sight  the  dog  immediately  seized  the  deer  and 
dragged  it  down  on  the  snow.  Clark  came  up  with  his  knot- 
club  and  knocked  it  on  the  head.  They  then  followed  on 
again,  and  in  a  short  time  came  up  with  another,  which  was 
Berved  in  the  same  way,  and  a  third  also. 

The  fourth  got  to  the  Cungamunck  river,  and  plunged  into 
a  small  hole  through  the  ice.  The  dog  would  follow  on  the 
ice  as  it  swam  round  and  round,  and  watching  an  opportunity, 
seize  the  deer  by  the  nose,  and  pulling  back  with  all  his 
might,  endeavor  to  drag  it  out.  The  deer  would  place  its 
fore  feet  against  the  ice  and  resist  this  proceeding,  until 
Clark  came  up  at  last,  and  for  fear  his  dog  might  be  dragged 
in  and  get  under  the  ice,  he  ended  the  pulling  match  by 
knocking  the  deer  on  the  head. 

This  was  a  pretty  fair  morning's  work  for  a  youth  without 
arms  of  any  kind,  but  those  nature  had  given  him.  This 


524  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD  HUNTERS. 

same  dog,  "  Old  Sound,"  met  with  a  great  many  adventures 
in  his  day.  One  of  these  is  worth  relating.  His  master, 
with  two  other  men,  were  out  deer  hunting  in  snow  shoes, 
and  on  the  side  of  Dug  Mountain  the  dog  started  three 
deer.  They  followed  on,  and  soon  killed  two  of  them ;  the 
other,  a  fine  young  three-year  old  buck,  showed  himself  to 
be,  as  the  old  man  said,  "the  cunningest  deer  I  ever  see'd  !" 
There  is  a  tremendous  ledge  on  the  side  of  this  mountain, 
which  gives  it  its  name,  for  it  is  bare  of  earth  and  almost 
perpendicular,  and  looks  as  if  it  had  been  "dug"  down  the 
face. 

The  deer  was  in  full  view,  and  commenced  climbing  up 
along  the  edge  of  this  ledge  "to  escape  from  the  dog,  who, 
when  he  came  up,  in  vain  essayed  the  same  feat.  After 
falling  back  several  times,  in  the  effort  to  follow  the  deer, 
the  sagacious  creature  gave  it  up,  and  followed  along  the 
foot  of  the  ledge  to  the  other  side.  The  deer  looked  as  if  he 
must  fall  from  its  airy  perch  every  instant,  and  they  expected 
to  see  it  dashed  to  pieces ;  but  it  descended  in  safety,  to  be 
met  by  the  dog  on  the  other  side.  There  the  chase  was 
renewed  until  the  old  man  knew,  by  the  manner  of  his  bark, 
that  the  dog  had  brought  it  to  bay.  The  three  hunters  now 
endeavored  to  outstrip  each  other  in  getting  to  the  deer ;  but 
the  others,  not  being  accustomed  to  snow  shoes,  got  theirs 
entangled,  in  their  hurry,  and  fell.  The  old  man  came  up 
in  sight  of  the  deer  alone. 

He  had  followed  the  tracks  in  the  snow,  and  to  his  great 
surprise  had  not  heard  the  dog  bark  for  some  time.  There 
stood  the  deer  in  the  snow,  bolt  upright,  with  its  feet  gathered 
up  under  it,  and  with  bristles  raised  as  if  for  a  spring,  but  it 
remained  perfectly  still,  eyeing  the  approaching  hunter. 

"There's  the  deer,"  he  said  to  himself,  "butwherc's  my 
dog  ?  I  can't  see  him  any  where !"  But  tho  first  thing  to 
be  done  was  to  shoot  the  deer — which  he  did.  The  animal 
fell  over  in  the  snow,  and  to  his  great  astonishment,  the  dog 


CRUST   AND   LAKE   HUNTING.  525 

bounded  up  from  beneath  its  feet,  shaking  the  snow  from  his 
hair. 

Old  Sound  looked  rather  humiliated,  and  seating  himself 
a  little  distance  off,  gazed  upon  his  dying  conqueror  in 
demure  silence.  "  The  cunningest  deer"  having  been  baffled 
in  an  extraordinary  effort  to  get  rid  of  its  noisy  foe,  had 
adopted  the  curious  expedient  of  first  beating  him  down  in 
the  snow  with  its  fore-paws,  and  then  deliberately  standing 
on  his  prostrate  body.  Deer  do  some  ugly  things  of  this 
kind  occasionally.  One  of  the  neighboring  hunters,  who 
was  passing  through  the  woods  on  the  crust,  without  any 
weapon  but  his  pocket-knife,  came  upon  three  deer,  one  of 
which  was  an  immense  buck. 

The  buck  eyed  the  man  as  he  came  up,  until  he  was  within 
a  few  yards  of  him,  and  then  made  right  at  him  with  his  hair 
turned  the  wrong  way.  He  knocked  the  man  down  in  the 
snow,  and  commenced  very  deliberately  stamping  him  to 
death.  He  kept  it  up  until  the  man  lay  still,  and  then  he 
would  step  off  a  little  distance  and  turn  to  look  at  his  victim. 
If  the  man  moved,  he  would  plunge  upon  him  again  and  give 
him  another  pounding,  until  he  was  content  to  lie  still.  This 
£<ime  had  been  repeated  several  times ;  and  the  man,  whose 
strength  was  fast  going,  felt  that  he  would  soon  be  killed 
if  he  could  not  get  out  of  this  scrape  in  some  way — for  even 
if  he  laid  still  the  deer  showed  no  disposition  to  leave  him, 
and  he  must  freeze  to  death  soon  in  his  cold  bed.  He  now 
for  the  first  time  bethought  him  of  his  knife,  and  at  the 
expense  of  another  pounding,  got  his  hand  into  the  pocket. 

The  deer  stood  off  a  little  distance  watching  him  ;  but 
when  he  had  secured  the  knife,  and  managed  to  work  it 
open  with  one  hand,  he  made  a  movement  by  kicking  up  the 
snow  with  his  feet.  The  buck  was  on  him  in  an  instant,  as 
usual,  and  the  man,  urged  now  to  despair,  rose  upon  his 
elbow,  and  making  three  or  four  savage  cuts  upwards  with 
his  knife,  succeeded  in  reaching  the  vitals  of  the  buck 


526  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

staggered  off  a  few  paces  and  fell  dead  upon  the  snow  with 
all  its  entrails  let  out.  The  man  got  home  with  great  diffi- 
culty and  was  laid  up  for  some  time  after  with  his  hurts. 
This  was  a  lesson  he  never  forgot,  and  always  took  a  gun 
with  him  afterwards  when  he  went  into  the  woods  on  a  crust. 

Piscator  and  I  having  determined  on  a  trip  to  the  famous 
Whittaker  Lake,  we  set  off  on  a  fine  morning  before  sunrise, 
and  on  foot,  accompanied  by  two  guides  and  as  many  dogs, 
well  trained  to  this  lake  hunting.  The  morning  proved  to 
be  especially  warm,  and  one  of  the  guides  most  expressively 
characterized  it,  as  we  passed  up  the  southern  side  of  a  long 
hill— 

"I  swow !  but  it's  a  yaller  day!"  was  gasped  out  by  the 
fellow. 

I  laughed  heartily,  and  thought  that  might  "pass."  The 
little  oxen  performed  miracles  in  dragging  the  sled  with  our 
boat  on  it  through  the  inconceivably  rugged  and  tangled 
woods,  to  the  lake.  The  two  guides  went  ahead  to  open 
the  way.  We  reached  the  margin  between  twelve  and  one. 
When  I  reached  the  gap  of  the  forest,  which  gave  us  an 
outlook  over  the  lake — for  I  was  some  little  distance  ahead 
— imagine  my  astonishment  at  seeing  four  or  five  deer 
leisurely  feeding  on  the  edge  of  the  water,  on  the  opposite 
shore.  My  first  hasty  impulse  was  to  fire  my  rifle  at  them, 
they  seemed  so  close ;  but  then  I  remembered,  and  was  at 
the  same  time  reminded  by  the  guide  who  followed,  that 
the  lake  was  nearly  half  a  mile  wide.  The  deer  had  not 
observed  or  heard  us,  since  we  had  approached  as  quietly 
as  possible. 

I  stood  and  watched  for  some  time  the  graceful  and 
unconscious  creatures  leisurely  cropping  the  lily  leaves  and 
buds  that  lay  upon  the  surface  of  the  calm  lake.  What  a 
shame  it  seemed  that  we  had  thus  come  to  disturb  and  rouse, 
with  a  bloody  reveille,  this  happy  quiet.  They  seemed,  in 
their  hill-girt  home,  to  be  uttcrlv  ignorant  of  man's  harshness 

O  r       O 


CRUST  AND   LAKE   HUNTING.  527 

in  the  world,  and  the  old  buck  tossed  his  antlered  head,  as 
proudly  as  if  he  were  sole  monarch  of  these  wilds.  They 
were  in  view,  feeding  and  sporting  along  the  water  of  the 
edge  for  a  full  half  hour. 

It  would  have  been  a  lesson  for  those  "  budge  doctors  of 
the  stoic  fur,"  of  whom  my  friend  Piscator  is  an  emulous 
disciple,  to  have  witnessed  the  elate  and  eager  longing  of 
the  smile  which  radiated  from  his  face  while  he  gazed  upoA, 
this  tranquil  scene.  His  double-barrel  quivered  in  his  grasp 
with  the  excitement,  and  his  round,  red  lips  looked  watery. 
With  such  a  sight  before  us,  you  may  rest  assured  there  was 
no  time  lost  in  dispatching  our  "  bite"  of  a  dinner,  prepara- 
tory for  work.  The  boat  was  now  quickly  launched,  and 
the  moment  it  touched  the  water,  loud  and  unearthly  cries, 
deafening  and  sonorous,  rose  from  every  part  of  the  lake. 
I  looked  around  in  astonishment,  and  the  eyes  of  Piscator 
sought  mine  with  something  of  a  wild  flaring  in  them,  but 
the  guides  smiled. 

"  Them's  the  loons  !"  said  George. 

Two  or  three  of  them  now  swam  out  fiom  the  point  of  the 
nearest  island,  and  curiously  approached  us.  I  saw  at  once 
that  it  was  the  loon,  or  northern  diver ;  one  of  the  most 
beautifully  marked  of  all  the  water-fowl.  They  properly 
resented  our  intrusion  upon  their  lovely  and  secluded  breed- 
ing-places, of  which  they  evidently  had  not  been  conscious 
until  the  splash  of  launching  our  boat  upon  their  favorite 
element  conveyed  to  them,  through  some  mysterious  medium 
of  sympathy,  the  warning  of  our  dangerous  approaches. 
Their  cry  is  strangely  human,  and  yet  inhuman ;  too,  and 
there  is  a  wild  and  mournful  quaver  in  it,  such  as  I  have 
always  observed  to  be  peculiar  to  birds  which  frequent 
desolate  and  solitary  places.  There  is  a  strange  and  harmo- 
nious fitness  in  this  which  never  struck  me  so  forcibly  at 
any  other  time,  as  during  our  stay  at  this  lonely  place. 

Louden,  the   "  yaller-day"  man,  who  was  to  put  out  the 


528  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

dogs  to  drive  the  deer,  was  first  taken  across  the  lake  with 
his  two  dogs,  and  landed.  George,  who  was  now  beginning 
to  develope  new  traits,  which  we  afterwards  found  rather 
characteristic  of  the  professional  guide  among  the  lakes, 
then  brought  back  the  boat  for  us.  There  were  two  islands 
in  the  lake,  a  mile  and  a  half  long,  and  we  were  to  stand 
upon  jhe  larger  one.  At  least,  so  Master  George  insisted. 
He,  in  the  boat,  alone,  was  to  undertake  to  drive  the  accomo- 
dating  deer  that  might  swim  into  the  lake,  along  up  to  us,  to 
be  shot.  A  delectable  plan,  truly !  We  were  to  stand,  like 
two  innocents,  on  the  island,  to  enjoy  the  sport  of  seeing 
our  guide  chase  and  capture  all  the  deer  that  came  in.  I 
instantly  perceived  that  this  was  one  of  the  knavish  tricks 
of  the  guide,  who,  having  in  some  such  way  laid  the  trouble- 
some sportsman  on  the  shelf,  quietly  monopolizes  all  the  fun 
to  himself.  I  now  began  to  obtain  some  insight  into  this 
same  Master  George,  in  whom  I  fondly  hoped  I  had  found  that 
paragon — an  honest  guide.  I  would  not  stand  this  impudent 
trick,  of  course,  since  I  paid  the  fellow  for  ministering  to  my 
amusement,  not  his  own.  The  pretence  was,  that  the  boat, 
with  two  in  it,  would  be  too  much  freighted  for  the  swift 
rowing  necessary  for  overtaking  the  deer.  And  good,  easy 
Piscator,  eager  as  he  was  to  retrieve  his  lost  ground,  and 
immortalize  himself  in  the  world  of  his  own  self-content,  by 
killing  the  first  deer,  would  insist  that  George  must  be  right, 
as  it  was  his  business  to  know  better  than  we. 

I  insisted  that  he  did  not  know  better,  and  that  it  was 
sheer  knavery  in  him,  and  so  indignantly  urged  it,  that 
Piscator  was  persuaded  at  last ;  and  as  I  surrendered  th' 
first  chance  to  him  —he  was  to  take  his  seat  first  in  the  boat 
I  now  left  them,  and  took  my  stand  on  the  other  end  of  thfc 
island.  Soon  all  was  perfect  silence  again,  broken  only  at 
intervals  by  the  clarion-like  whoop  of  the  troubled  loor>s  I 
watched  two  of  them,  which,  as  I  lay  upon  the  moss,  could  see 
me  only  indistinctly,  and  urged  by  their  strong  curiosity, 


CRUST   AND   LAKE   HUNTING.  529 

swam  back  and  forth,  each  time  coming  slowly  nearer  me, 
until  they  were  so  close  that  I  could  see  the  shine  of  their 
dark  eyes,  and  the  white  rings  about  their  necks. 

Soon  the  dogs  open  musically  on,  far  up  on  the  deep- 
wooded  side  of  Dug  Mountain.  It  is  a  short  and  spirited 
race,  and  while  I  lie  abstractedly  tracing  the  reverberations 
of  their  voices  among  the  mountains — a  splash  !  My  heart 
leaps.  There !  The  deer  has  taken  water  at  the  southern 
end  of  the  lake.  See,  he  swims  already !  It's  a  noble  fellow ! 
Ha !  he  is  not  coming  for  the  open  water !  "We  shan't  get 
him !  He  swims  across  that  narrow  .cove — now  he's  out ! 
See  him  shake  the  drops  from  his  tawny  hair,  as  he  walks 
deliberately  into  the  woods  again  ! 

There  come  the  dogs  !  Old  Turk,  with  his  face  half  white 
and  black,  stands  upon  the  shore  an  instant,  snuffing  over 
the  water.  In  he  plunges  !  What  a  bold  and  rapid  swimmer ! 
He  swims  out  into  the  lake  towards  us.  The  trick  has  told 
— he  has  lost  the  deer.  George  puts  out  in  the  boat  to  meet 
him.  He  takes  him  in  and  rows  towards  where  the  buck 
went  out.  He  has  nearly  reached  the  shore — the  dog  stands 
with  his  fore  paws  on  the  edge  of  the  boat,  snuffing  the  air. 
There  !  he  plunges — he  has  caught  the  scent  again,  and 
away  he  goes,  with  eager  yells,  on  the  track. 

He  is  off,  and  Master  George  does  not  return  to  us  with 
the  boat.  The  rascal  is  out  of  our  reach,  and  is  determined 
now,  in  spite  of  me,  to  carry  out  his  purpose.  Knowing 
that  he  can  invent  some  excuse  which  will  satisfy  Piscator,  I 
swallow  my  anger ;  for  this  is  his  chance,  and  if  he  chooses 
to  lose  it,  well  and  good.  In  half  an  hour  the  deer  is  back, 
takes  the  water  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake,  and  makes  for 
the  second  island.  Master  George  is  off,  and  pulling  with 
his  best  might  and  skill  to  cut  the  deer  off  from  the  shore. 
He  has  started  too  soon ;  the  deer  has  seen  him,  and  turns. 
They  both  disappear  behind  the  point  of  the  island. 

The  audacious  rascal !  One  of  us  should  have  been  in  that 

34 


530  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

boat.  The  deer  will  be  lost,  for  the  gun  he  has  is  worthless. 
In  a  moment  we  hear  the  gun,  and  then  all  is  silent  for 
nearly  half  an  hour.  He  has  probably  shot  the  deer.  A 
pretty  business  this !  We  paying  this  impudent  fellow  to 
take  the  deer  from  under  our  very  noses.  I  was  greatly 
enraged,  and  it  was  well  he  did  not  make  his  appearance 
soon.  But  the  other  dog  has  started  now.  A  noisy  and 
exciting  chase  to  and  fro  along  the  shore  woods.  After 
awhile,  who  should  make  his  appearance  but  Master  George 
again,  shouting  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  as  he  turned  a  point 
of  the  island,  with  some  small  object  swimming  in  the  water 
before  him — 

"  Here's  your  deer  !    Here's  your  deer  !" 

"  The  devil  it  is !"  I  exclaimed,  for  I  had  now  rejoined 
Piscator.  "  That's  no  deer.  It  looks  more  like  a  rabbit  or 
musk-rat." 

"  Come  along  down  shore  and  shoot  it ;  its  a  fawn," 
shouted  our  redoubtable  boatman. 

"Why,  you  rascal,  I  don't  want  to  hurt  that  little 
creature  !  Take  it  alive !"  I  shouted. 

The  fellow  felt  he  had  his  peace  to  make,  and  accordingly 
did  his  best  to  take  the  fawn  alive.  In  his  efforts  to  accom- 
plish this,  a  most  ludicrous  and  amusing  scene  occurred. 
The  dog  Turk,  who  had  lost  the  trail  of  his  deer  at  the 
water,  then  joined  in  the  chase  after  the  fawn,  and  now 
came  swimming  boldly  out  after  it.  George  had  seized  the 
active  little  creature  by  the  hind  feet,  and  was  endeavoring 
to  drag  it  into  the  boat.  He  had  nearly  succeeded,  when 
Turk  leaped  half  way  out  of  the  water  and  upon  the  back 
of  the  bleating  fawn.  George  must  release  his  hold  to  fight 
off  the  dog,  and  now  the  struggle  commenced.  The  fierce 
and  headstrong  Turk,  as  in  duty  bound,  is  determined  to 
kill  the  game,  and  George  that  he  shall  not.  While  these 
two  are  struggling,  the  poor  little  fawn  would  make  some 
headway,  then  George  would  be  compelled  to  take  up  his 


CRUST   AND   LAKE   HUNTING.  531 

oars.  The  boat  would  shoot  alongside  again,  and  he  would 
seize  it  by  the  ears  or  tail  to  have  the  same  scene  over 
again,  for  Turk  was  on  hand  to  drag  it  back  into  the  water, 
when  he  had  lifted  it  partly  out.  George  became  furious  at 
last,  and  his  half-frantic,  half-despairing  screams  of — 

"You  Turk  !  Get  away,  Turk  !  Begone  Turk  !"  mingled 
with  the  bleating  of  the  fawn  and  the  angry  barking  of  the 
dog,  and  the  splash  and  sputtering  of  the  watery  strife,  pro- 
duced a  combination  of  sounds  and  scene  so  irresistibly  comic, 
that  I  sunk  to  the  very  earth  with  peal  upon  peal  of  unre- 
strainable  and  almost  hysterical  laughter;  for  I  enjoyed  so 
immensely  the  agony  of  George,  that  I  had  no  time  to  think 
of  that  of  the  poor  little  fawn. 

At  last  this  ludicrous  contest  came  to  a  crisis.  The  fawn 
had  all  this  time  been  making  for  the  shore,  and  now  it  had 
struck  shallow  water,  and  was  about  to  make  its  escape,  when 
George  seized  his  gun  and  shot  it  through  the  head.  I  had 
rather  the  blood  of  this  little  spotted  thing  had  been  on  his 
conscience  than  mine,  and  to  do  him  justice,  he  seemed  very 
sorry  for  it  afterwards.  It  turned  out  that  the  fellow  had 
missed  the  deer  after  all,  and  let  it  escape.  I  now  peremp- 
torily put  a  stop  to  that  favorite  joke  of  his — going  alone — 
and  as  Piscator  had  lost  his  chance,  went  into  the  boat 
myself.  I  was  still  angry,  but  I  had  not  the  heart  to  abuse 
him  after  affording  me  so  hearty  a  laugh. 

It  was  late,  but  the  dogs  made  another  start,  and  after 
a  short  race,  a  fine  young  buck  entered  the  water,  and  instead 
of  swimming,  attempted,  as  the  others  had,  to  skulk  along 
the  shore.  We  knew  he  was  lying  down,  for  we  should  have 
seen  his  whole  body,  had  he  been  standing  up  in  the  shallow 
marsh.  We  watched  in  silence  to  see  what  the  next  maneuvre 
would  be  when  the  dog  came  up,  when  suddenly  a  gun 
exploded  from  the  woods  on  shore,  the  deer  rose,  and  with 
a  long  bound,  made  for  the  shore.  It  was  out  of  our  rifle 
range,  but  I  could  not  resist  the  inclination,  and  sent  a  ball 


532  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

after  him  as  lie  went  into  the  bush.  It  was  the  presuming 
guide  who  put  out  the  dogs.  He  d/d  not  see  us  as  we  lay 
concealed  in  the  grass,  and  had  fired  at  the  deer.  The  dogs 
came  up,  we  put  them  on  the  track,  and  they  went  off 
splendidly. 

It  was  not  more  than  a  minute,  and  we  all  three  stood  in 
open  view  upon  a  log,  upon  which  we  had  run  the  boat,  when 
the  deer  came  in  again  at  precisely  the  same  place.  We 
stood  still  as  if  suddenly  congealed — I  with  my  rod  half- 
driven  home ;  it  came  cautiously  into  the  .water  at  first,  but 
did  not  seem  to  have  noticed  us,  as  is  always  the  case  if  you 
are  perfectly  motionless.  At  last  it  struck  across  the  lake ;  we 
waited  until  it  was  too  far  from  shore  to  turn  back. — "Now!" 
I  sprang  into  the  boat,  which  George  pushed  off  at  the  same 
moment,  and  we  darted  through  the  water.  We  soon  closed 
upon  the  deer,  which  commenced  bleating  as  we  approached, 
and  it  saw  that  capture  was  sure — but  yonder  came  the  dogs 
swimming  out  to  us.  We  must  make  quick  work  of  it. 

"  Shoot !" 

I  fired  a  ball  into  its  head,  and  as  it  was  going  down, 
George  seized  it  by  its  hind  legs,  and  drew  it  into  the  boat. 
The  weather  now  becoming  unfavorable  for  the  continuation 
of  our  sport,  we  concluded  to  break  up  our  shantee  the  next 
day,  and  dismissing  our  worthless  guide,  we  pushed  on  some 
six  miles  further,  through  the  mountains  to  the  north,  to 
Louis  Lake,  where  we  purposed  spending  a  week  in  hunting 
and  fishing  at  the  shantee  of  "Old  Sturgc."  His  two  boys, 
who  were  fifteen  and  sixteen  years  old,  ofiiciating  as  our 
guides. 

This  is  the  most  picturesque  and  loveliest  of  all  the  lakes ; 
and  here  we  had  abundant  sport.  The  boys  were  extraordi- 
nary specimens  of  the  Wild  Turkey  breed  of  natural-born 
hunters,  and  proved  to  be  admirable  guides.  These  youths 
had  been  in  the  habit  of  walking  since  their  early  childhood 
the  most  incredible  distances,  in  these  wild  mountains,  and 


CRUST   AND   LAKE   HUNTING.  533 

entirely  alone.  They  were  equally  at  home  every  where,  as 
much  so  as  the  wild  deer  they  hunted. 

Old  Sturge  himself  is  a  '  case  '  for  any  country.  He  will 
walk  forty  miles  a  day  with  as  little  trouble  as  a  dandy  would 
feel  it  to  be  promenading  from  the  Astor  to  the  Broadway 
hotel ;  and  '  Sturge '  will  have  the  advantage  in  that,  though 
he  only  carries  a  pack  on  his  shoulders  of  sixty  or  eighty 
pounds  dead  weight,  the  dandy  is  burdened  with  an  unappre- 
ciable  quantity  of  live  brass.  He  goes  in  and  out  to  his 
favorite  Lake  twice  a  day,  something  as  if  it  were  "only 
cross  the  way."  He  is  a  helter-skelter,  harum-scarum,  good- 
natured,  headlong  fellow,  who  is  forever  blundering  into  the 
most  ludicrous  scrapes  with  wild  animals,  and  yet  has  man- 
hood enough  to  come  out  right  end  up  usually. 

He  always  has  a  number  of  traps  set  near  the  Lake.  He 
was  coming  in  one  morning  with  one  or  two  old  hunters,  and 
passing  by  a  trap  on  the  way,  found  a  large  bear  caught  by 
the  hind-leg.  Without  waiting  to  shoot  the  creature,  or 
indeed  thinking  at  all  of  it,  he  rushed  upon  it  with  his  knife 
to  cut  its  throat.  Bruin  of  course  met  him  with  the  hug 
fraternal,  and  then  commenced  between  them  a  desperate 
struggle.  His  comrades  were  too  much  paralyzed  with 
laughter  to  come  to  his  help,  and  before  he  succeeded  in 
despatching  the  bear  with  his  knife,  his  clothing  had  all  been 
stripped  off,  and  himself  badly  torn  and  bruised. 

Nobody  on  the  face  of  the  earth  but  (  Old  Sturge,'  would 
ever  have  dreamed  of  doing  such  a  stupidly  reckless  thing ; 
but  this  is  only  one  out  of  many  such  madcap  capers.  How- 
ever, he  is  pioneering  a  settlement  to  Louis  Lake  most 
effectively,  by  taking  there  a  large  family  of  children — most 
of  them  boys,  and  as  hardy  as  young  partridges.  He  intends 
to  keep  a  corner  of  the  shantee  for  sportsmen,  who  prefer 
Louis  Lake,  and  the  tough,  wiry  old  fellow  will  hold  himself 
in  readiness  to  carry  them  astride  his  shoulders — if  they  desiro 
it — thirty  miles  further  into  the  wilderness. 


534  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

There  is  an  amusing  story  told  of  Old  Sturge's  first  inter* 
view  with  a  moose,  which  is  worth  giving  before  we  dismiss 
him.  It  was  soon  after  he  came  to  the  country  from  '  down 
east,'  and  when  he  was  somewhat  green  upon  the  subject  of 
'  wild  varmints '  in  general. 

Some  one  had  shown  him  how  to  set  his  traps  at  Louis 
Lake,  and  one  morning  when  he  went  to  visit  them,  rifle  in 
hand,  he  saw  a  huge  black  beast  lying  in  the  place  of  one 
of  his  traps.  He  said  he  thought  it  was  the  Old  Harry 
himself,  with  a  bundle  of  pitchforks,  and  iron-wooden  shovels 
on  his  head — but  though  mortally  frightened,  and  very  much 
disposed  to  run  back  home,  he  concluded  finally,  that  to  save 
his  manhood  he  must  take  a  shot  at  it  any  how.  It  had  not 
seen  him,  and  he  was  quite  close,  so  he  blazed  away.  Whether 
he  shut  his  eyes  or  not,  he  does  not  know,  but  the  creature 
paid  no  attention  to  him,  and  did  not  even  turn  its  head. 

Finding  himself  alive  after  this  desperate  venture,  he  took 
courage,  hid  behind  a  tree,  and  loaded  again.  He  fired 
again  with  the  same  result.  He  began  now  to  think  that 
it  surely  bore  a  charmed  life,  and  said  that  when  ho 
looked  along  the  barrel  at  it,  it  grew  as  large  as  a  meeting 
house,  and  that  when  in  spite  of  his  fear  he  aimed  right  at 
the  middle  of  this  great  pile,  the  ball  would  go  clear  through, 
and  it  would  close  up  again.  He  says  he  got  madder  and 
madder,  and  worse  and  worse  scared  every  time  he  shot, 
until  he  supposed  he  had  been  at  it  an  hour  or  two,  when,  as 
his  last  load  was  fired,  the  great  black  beast  got  up  and  gave 
nne  tremendous  bound.  He  heard  his  steel  trap  fall  clashing 
back  against  the  stones,  and  it  was  gone. 

After  he  had  sufficiently  recovered  from  his  trepidation, 
he  went  up  to  the  trap,  and  found  there,  between  its  saw-like 
teeth,  the  veritable  'split  hoof,'  for  which  the  old  gentleman 
he  took  it  for  is  so  famous !  lie  swears  to  this  day  that 
there  was  a  strong  smell  of  sulphur  in  the  woods,  which 
remained  for  weeks  afterwards. 


CKUST   AND   LAKE   HUNTING.  535 

He  came  into  the  settlement  in  a  great  fright  with  the 
hoof,  but  the  old  hunters  looked  wise  and  solemn,  shaking 
their  heads.  Sturge,  poor  fellow,  could  get  no  consolation 
out  of  them.  When  winter  came,  he  went  with  a  party  to 
hunt  moose,  and  when  in  the  yard,  they  came  upon  a  huge 
bull  moose,  Sturge  was  for  making  tracks  as  fast  as  his  snow 
shoes  would  let  him,  yelling — 

"That's  him!  there  he  is  again!" — but  the  hunters  stopped 
him  with  roars  of  laughter,  and  let  him  shoot  at  the  bull 
until  he  brought  it  down,  when  he  satisfied  himself  that  it 
had  not  the  '  forked  tail,'  and  therefore  was  not  the  genuine 
Old  Harry !  But  this  was  when  Sturge  was  young  and 
verdant,  and  his  mistake  after  all  was  no  more  remarkable 
than  many  others  that  have  been  made  at  the  susceptible 
age.  He  has  killed  many  moose  since,  but  always  has  to  fire 
a  great  many  shots  at  them — for  he  says  that  somehow,  since 
that  time,  they  "  will  look  so  big  he  can't  see  his  sights !" 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

HUNTING   ELEPHANTS   IN   SOUTH   AFRICA. 

BUT  the  "  Hunter-Naturalist"  is  not  confined  to  the  "  wild 
scenes"  of  our  young  continent.  There  yet  remain  upon  the 
oldest  continent  of  the  Old  "World  "Realms  of  Ancient 
Solitude"  as  vast,  as  savage,  as  difficult  of  penetration;  "where 
action  as  wild,  and  passions  as  uncontrolled  as  those  we 
have  been  witnessing  and  depicting,  find  "verge  and  room 
enough." 

The  same  audacious  spirit  of  inquiry  and  passionate  aban- 
don of  taste,  which  has  characterized  the  half-scientific, 
half-Nomadic  explorer  here,  has  carried,  in  some  stage  of 
development,  the  "  Hunter-Naturalist"  in  whatever  direction 
the  empire-measuring  eye  of  Britain  has  been  turned,  forward 
as  the  "-surveyor,"  in  advance  of  chain  and  staff,  to  explore, 
of  his  own  free  will,  and  report  of  his  own  free  fancy,  concern- 
ing the  prospective  riches  of  these  remote  lands. 

Thus  a  new  class  of  adventurers  has  grown  up  under  the 
far-seeing  policy,  first  of  the  Honorable  East  India  Company, 
and  afterwards,  perforce  of  example,  under  the  general 
military  administration  of  British  colonial  affairs,  which 
aspires  at  once  to  combine  all  characteristics  of  the  Boones 
and  Audubons  of  our  history.  The  stories  of  tiger  hunting 
on  elephants  by  officers  of  the  British  army,  which  have  for  so 
long  constituted  the  staple  of  savage  romance  in  that  direction, 
as  to  render  their  details  now  superlatively  stale,  have  yet 
had  their  effect  in  developing  this  new  British  type,  though 
it  be  but  a  secondary  one  ;  yet  the  lawless  magnificence  of 

536 


ELEPHANT   HUNTING.  537 

action  and  association  which  had  rendered  the  character  of 
Pioneer  and  Hunter-Naturalist  nearly  synonomous  in  renown 
here,  had  still  more  to  do  with  this  result  in  affording  the  most 
extraordinary  and  illustrious  instances  of  individual  heroism 
the  world  ever  saw.  Men  became  emulous  of  this  personal 
glory,  with  which  the  association  of  single  names  with  the 
conquest  of  empires,  first  with  mere  handfulls  of  followers,  as 
with  Cortez  and  Pizarro,  and  afterwards  through  all  unex- 
pected disparities  of  numbers,  down  to  the  solitary  man,  as 
with  Boone,  had  been  made  so  familiar  since  the  discovery 
of  the  New  World.  If  there  were  no  new  worlds  to  discover, 
there  were  at  least  new  regions  to  explore;  if  there  were 
no  more  Perus  or  Mexicos  to  conquer,  there  were  great  herds 
of  peaceful  elephants  browsing  the  unpenetrated  forests  of  the 
vast  interior  of  Africa,  in  the  hunt  of  which  energies  as  rest- 
less and  irrepressible  could  be  expended.  Thus  the  pacific 
and  curious  traveller,  such  as  Bruce,  or  "more  merchant- 
like,"  as  Marco  Paulo  and  Sir  John  Mandeville,  has  given 
place  to  such  Nimrods  on  parole  as  Major  W.  Cornwallis 
Harris,  R.  Gorden  Cummings,  etc.,  of  the  British  army  in 
South  Africa,  who  have  lately  made  themselves  illustrious  as 
having  gone  forth — if  not  literally 

"—     —With  a  pine 
For  a  spear,  'gainst  the  mammoth," 

at  least  practically,  with  their  short  rifles  against 
" foaming  behemoth." 

The  adventures  of  these  men  open  a  new  and  very  curious, 
as  well  as  striking  chapter  of  "Wild  Scenes  and  Wild 
Hunters"  in  the  old  world.  Each  tells  his  own  story  with  the 
characteristic  extravagance  of  the  adventurer ;  but  this  con- 
sists more  in  expression  than  fact.  They  are  both  inspired 
with  the  genuine  spirit  of  the  "  Hunter-Naturalist,"  and  in 
their  eager  emulation  of  securing  "  trophies"  of  specimens, 


538  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

have  done  much  to  illustrate  the  Natural  History  of  an 
immense  and  wholly  unknown  country.  Of  the  two,  Harris 
has  ten  years  the  precedence  in  the  field;  and  to  say  the 
least,  there  is  a  somewhat  suspicious  resemblance  between 
many  of  the  incidents  in  Cummings'  book  and  his  on  the 
"  Sports  of  South  Africa."  This  coincidence,  however  natural, 
from  the  fact  that  much  the  same  ground  has  been  gone 
over  by  both,  is  yet  strong  enough  to  show  that  Cummings 
has  taken  Harris  for  his  master  and  model.  As  a  proper 
introduction  to  these  "Wild  Scenes,"  I  shall  give  from 
Cummings  a  general  sketch  of  the  habits  of  the  elephant. 

Before  proceeding  further  with  my  narrative,  it  may  here 
be  interesting  to  make  a  few  remarks  on  the  African  elephant 
and  his  habits.  The  elephant  is  widely  diffused  through  the 
vast  forests,  and  is  met  with  in  herds  of  various  numbers. 
The  male  is  very  much  larger  than  the  female,  consequently 
much  more  difficult  to  kill.  He  is  provided  with  two  enormous 
tusks.  These  are  long,  tapering,  and  beautifully  arched ; 
their  length  averages  from  six  to  eight  feet,  and  they  weigh 
from  sixty  to  a  hundred  pounds  each.  In  the  vicinity  of 
the  equator  the  elephants  attain  to  a  greater  size  than  to 
the  southward ;  and  I  am  in  the  possession-  of  a  pair  of  tusks 
of  the  African  bull  elephant,  the  larger  of  which  measures 
ten  feet  nine  inches  in  length,  and  weighs  one  hundred  and 
seventy-three  pounds.  The  females,  unlike  Asiatic  elephants 
in  this  respect,  are  likewise  provided  with  tusks.  The  price 
which  the  largest  ivory  fetches  in  the  English  market  is  from 
X28  to  ,£32  per  hundred  and  twelve  pounds.  Old  bull 
elephants  are  found  singly  or  in  pairs,  or  consorting  together 
in  small  herds,  varying  from  six  to  twenty  individuals.  The 
younger  bulls  remain  for  many  years  in  the  company  of  their 
mothers,  and  these  are  met  together  in  large  herds  of  from 
twenty  to  a  hundred  individuals.  The  food  of  the  elephant 
consists  of  the  branches,  Icnves  and  roots  of  trees,  and  also  of 
a  variety  of  bulbs,  of  the  situation  of  which  he  is  advisee5  by 


ELEPHANT   HUNTING.  539 

his  exquisite  sense  of  smell.  To  obtain  these  he  turns  up 
the  ground  with  his  tusks,  and  whole  acres  may  be  seen  thus 
plowed  up.  Elephants  consume  an  immense  quantity  of 
food,  and  pass  the  greater  part  of  the  day  and  night  in 
feeding.  Like  the  whale  in  the  ocean,  the  elephant  on  land 
is  acquainted  with,  and  roams  over,  wide  and  extensive 
tracts.  He  is  extemely  particular  in  always  frequenting 
the  freshest  and  most  verdant  districts  of  the  forest;  and 
when  one  district  is  parched  and  barren,  he  will  forsake  it 
for  years,  and  wander  to  great  distances  in  quest  of  better 
pasture. 

The  elephant  entertains  an  extraordinary  horror  of  man, 
and  a  child  can  put  a  hundred  of  them  to  flight  by  passing 
at  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  windward ;  and  when  thus  disturbed, 
they  go  a  long  way  before  they  halt.  It  is  surprising  how 
soon  these  sagacious  animals  are  aware  of  the  presence  of  a 
hunter  in  their  domains.  When  one  troop  has  been  attacked, 
all  the  other  elephants  frequenting  the  district  are  aware  of 
the  fact  within  two  or  three  days,  when  they  all  forsake  it,  and 
migrate  to  distant  parts,  leaving  the  hunter  no  alternative 
but  to  inspan  his  wagons  and  remove  to  fresh  ground.  This 
constitutes  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  which  a  skillful 
elephant-hunter  encounters.  Even  in  the  most  remote  parts, 
which  may  be  reckoned  the  head-quarters  of  the  elephant,  it  is 
only  occasionally,  and  with  inconceivable  toil  and  hardship,  that 
the  eye  of  the  hunter  is  cheered  by  the  sight  of  one.  Owing  to 
habits  peculiar  to  himself,  the  elephant  is  more  inaccessible, 
and  much  more  rarely  seen,  than  any  other  game  quadruped, 
excepting  certain  rare  antelopes.  They  choose  for  their 
resort  the  most  lonely  and  secluded  depths  of  the  forest, 
generally  at  a  very  great  distance  from  the  rivers  and 
fountains  at  which  they  drink.  In  dry  and  warm  weather 
they  visit  these  waters  nightly,  but  in  cool  and  cloudy  weather 
they  drink  only  once  every  third  or  fourth  clay.  About 
sundown  the  elephant  leaves  his  distant  mid-day  haunt,  and 


540  WILD   SCENES   AND    WILD    HUNTERS. 

commences  his  march  toward  the  fountain,  which  is  probably 
from  twelve  to  twenty  miles  distant.  This  he  generally 
reaches  between  the  hours  of  nine  and  midnight,  when, 
having  slaked  his  thirst  and  cooled  his  body  by  spouting 
large  volumes  of  Avater  over  his  back  with  his  trunk,  he 
resumes  the  path  to  his  forest  solitudes.  Having  reached  a 
secluded  spot,  I  have  remarked  that,  full-grown  bulls  lie  down 
on  their  broadsides,  about  the  hour  of  midnight,  and  sleep 
for  a  few  hours.  The  spot  which  they  usually  select  is  an 
ant-hill,  and  they  lie  around  it  with  their  backs  resting 
against  it ;  these  hills  formed  by  the  white  ants,  are  from 
thirty  to  forty  feet  in  diameter  at  their  base.  The  mark 
of  the  under  tusk  is  always  deeply  imprinted  in  the  ground, 
proving  that  they  lie  upon  their  sides.  I  never  remarked 
that  females  had  thus  lain  down,  and  it  is  only  in  the  more 
secluded  districts  that  the  bulls  adopt  this  practice ;  for  I 
observed  that,  in  districts  where  the  elephants  were  liable 
to  frequent  disturbance,  they  took  repose  standing  on  their 
legs  beneath  some  shady  tree.  Having  slept,  they  then 
proceed  to  feed  extensively.  Spreading  out  from  one  another, 
and  proceeding  in  a  zigzag  course,  they  smash  and  destroy 
all  the  finest  trees  in  the  forest  which  happen  to  lie  in  their 
course.  The  number  of  goodly  trees  which  a  herd  of  bull 
elephants  will  thus  destroy  is  utterly  incredible.  They  are 
extremely  capricious,  and  on  coming  to  a  group  of  five  or  six 
trees,  they  break  down  not  unfrcquently  the  whole  of  them, 
when,  having  perhaps  tasted  one  or  two  small  branches,  they 
pass  on  and  continue  their  wanton  work  of  destruction.  I 
have  repeatedly  ridden  through  forests  where  the  trees  thus 
broken  lay  so  thick  across  one  another  that  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  ride  through  the  district,  and  it  is  in  situations 
such  as  these  that  attacking  the  elephant  is  attended  with 
most  danger.  During  the  night  they  will  feed  in  open  plains 
and  thinly-wooded  districts,  but  as  day  dawns  they  retire 
to  the  densest  covers  within  reach,  which  nine  times  in  ten 


ELEPHANT   HUNTING.  541 

are  composed  of  the  impracticable  wait-a-bit  thorns,  and  here 
they  remain  drawn  up  in  a  compact  herd  during  the  heat  of 
the  day.  In  remote  districts,  however,  and  in  cool  weather, 
I  have  known  herds  to  continue  pasturing  throughout  the 
whole  day. 

The  appearance  of  the  wild  elephant  is  inconceivably 
majestic  and  imposing.  Ilis  gigantic  height  and  colossal 
bulk,  so  greatly  surpassing  all  other  quadrupeds,  combined 
with  his  sagacious  disposition  and  peculiar  habits,  impart  to 
him  an  interest  in  the  eyes  of  the  hunter  which  no  other 
animal  can  call  forth.  The  pace  of  the  elephant,  when 
undisturbed,  is  a  bold,  free,  sweeping  step ;  and  from  the 
peculiar  spongy  formation  of  his  foot,  his  tread  is  extremely 
light  and  inaudible,  and  all  his  movements  are  attended 
with  a  peculiar  gentleness  and  grace.  This,  however,  only 
applies  to  the  elephant  when  roaming  undisturbed  in  his 
jungle ;  for,  when  roused  by  the  hunter,  he  proves  the  most 
dangerous  enemy,  and  far  more  difficult  to  conquer  than  any 
other  beast  of  the  chase. 

Harris  has  given  a  most  graphic  description  of  the  imposing 
scene  of  his  first  introduction  to  the  South  African  Elephants. 
Here  it  is  in  his  own  picturesque  style. 

Early  in  the  afternoon  the  Hottentots  returned  with  the 
oxen,  and  we  proceeded  without  loss  of  time  to  the  eastward, 
following  the  course  of  the  mountains  through  very  high 
grass,  and  passing  between  two  conical  hills  of  singular 
appearance,  which  stood  like  sentinels  on  either  hand  ;  after 
crossing  six  inconsiderable  streams,  we  with  some  difficulty 
gained  the  vicinity  of  a  remarkable  abrupt  opening  in  the 
range,  which  through  a  telescope  appeared  to  afford  a  prac- 
ticable road  to  the  northward.  Both  our  wagons  stuck  fast 
in  the  Saut  river,  and  were  with  difficulty  extricated  by  the 
united  efforts  of  the  teams.  The  heat  was  intense,  not  a 
breath  stirred ;  the  heavy  black  clouds  fast  collecting  bade 
us  prepare  for  a  deluge.  We  therefore  formed  the  camp 


542  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

in  an  elevated  and  sheltered  position,  under  the  lee  of  a  high 
stone  enclosure,  which  only  required  the  entrance  to  be  closed 
with  bushes  to  make  a  secure  pound  for  the  cattle.  Scarcely 
were  these  arrangements  completed,  when  a  stream  of  liquid 
fire  ran  along  the  ground,  and  a  deafening  thunder-clap 
exploding  close  above  us,  was  instantly  followed  by  a  torrent 
of  rain  which  "  came  dancing  down  to  the  earth,"  not  in 
drops,  but  in  continuous  streams,  and  with  indescribable 
violence,  during  the  greater  part  of  the  night ;  the  thunder 
now  receding  and  rumbling  less  and  less  distinctly,  but  more 
incessantly,  among  the  distant  mountains — now  pealing  in 
echoes  over  the  distant  hills,  and  now  returning  to  burst  with 
redoubled  violence  over  our  heads. 

"  Far  along, 


From  peak  to  peak,  the  rattling  crags  among, 
Leapt  the  wild  thunder,  not  from  one  lone  cloud, 
But  every  mountain  soon  had  found  a  tongue." 

The  horses  and  oxen  were  presently  standing  knee-deep 
in  water;  our  followers  remained  sitting  all  night  in  the 
baggage  wagon,  which,  being  better  covered,  fortunately 
resisted  the  pitiless  storm.  Sleep,  however,  was  out  of  the 
question,  the  earth  actually  threatening  to  give  way  under 
us,  the  lightning  being  so  painfully  vivid  that  we  were  glad 
to  hide  our  heads  under  the  pillow. 

Those  only  who  have  witnessed  the  setting  in  of  the  south- 
west monsoon  in  India,  are  capable  of  understanding  the 
awful  tempest  I  have  attempted  to  describe.  About  an  hour 
before  dawn  its  fury  began  to  abate,  and  at  sunrise  it  was 
perfectly  fine,  but  the  rivers  were  quite  impassable.  I  pro- 
ceeded with  some  of  the  Hottentots  to  reconnoitre  the  pass, 
but  found  that  it  was  impassable  for  wagons,  being  nothing 
more  than  a  narrow  channel  flanked  by  perpendicular  crags, 
between  which  the  Saut  river  rushes  on  its  way  to  join  the 
Singkling,  making  a  number  of  abrupt  windings  through  a 


ELEPHANT   HUKTING.  543 

most  impracticable  country,  intersected  by  a  succession  of 
rocky  declivities.  From  the  highest  peak  we  saw  several 
herds  of  buffaloes,  and  whilst  descending  came  upon  the 
tracks  of  a  huge  elephant  that  had  passed  about  an  hour 
before.  This  being  the  largest  foot-print  we  had  seen,  I  had 
the  curiosity  to  measure  it,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  animal's 
height — twice  the  circumference  of  an  elephant's  foot  being, 
it  is  notorious,  the  exact  height  at  the  shoulder.  It  yielded 
a  product  of  about  twelve  feet,  which,  notwithstanding  the 
traditions  that  have  been  handed  down,  I  believe  to  be  the 
maximum  height  attained  by  the  African  elephant. 

We  followed  the  trail  across  the  Saut  river,  which  had  now 
considerably  subsided,  and  finding  that  it  proceeded  eastward 
along  the  mountain  chain,  returned  to  our  encampment  for 
horses  and  ammunition. 

Leaving  the  wagon  to  proceed  to  a  spot  agreed  upon,  we 
again  took  the  field  about  ten  o'clock,  and  pursued  the  track 
indefatigably  for  eight  miles  over  a  country  presenting  every 
variety  of  feature.  At  one  time  we  crossed  bare  stony  ridges, 
at  another  threaded  the  intricacies  of  shaggy  but  dilapidated 
forests  ;  now  struggling  through  high  fields  of  waving  grass, 
and  again  emerged  into  open  downs.  At  length  we  arrived 
among  extensive  groups  of  grassy  hillocks,  covered  with  loose 
stones,  interspersed  with  streams,  and  occasional  patches  of 
forest,  in  which  the  recent  ravages  of  elephants  were  sur- 
prising. Here,  to  our  inexpressible  gratification,  we  descried 
a  large  herd  of  those  long-sought  animals,  lazily  browsing  at 
the  head  of  a  distant  valley,  our  attention  having  been  first 
directed  to  it  by  che  strong  and  not  to  be  mistaken  effluvia 
with  which  the  wind  was  impregnated.  Never  having  before 
seen  the  elephant  in  his  native  jungles,  we  gazed  at  the  sight 
before  us  with  intense  and  indescribable  interest.  Our  feel- 
ings on  the  occasion  even  extended  to  our  followers.  As  for 
Andries,  he  became  so  agitated  that  he  could  scarcely  articu- 


544  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

late.  With  open  eyes  and  quivering  lips  he  at  length  stuttered 
forth— 

"  Dar  stand  de  olifant!" 

Mohanycom  and  Lingap  were  immediately  dispatched  to 
drive  the  herd  back  into  the  valley,  up  which  we  rode  slowly 
and  without  noise,  against  the  wind ;  and  arriving  within  one 
hundred  and  fifty  yards  unperceived,  we  made  our  horses 
fast,  and  took  up  a  commanding  position  in  an  old  stone 
kraal.  The  shouting  of  the  savages,  who  now  appeared  on 
the  height,  rattling  their  shields,  caused  the  animals  to  move 
unsuspiciously  towards  us,  and  even  within  ten  yards  of  our 
ambush.  The  group  consisted  of  nine,  all  females,  with  large 
tusks.  We  selected  the  finest,  and  with  perfect  deliberation, 
fired  a  volley  of  five  balls  into  her.  She  stumbled,  but 
recovering  herself,  uttered  a  shrill  note  of  lamentation,  when 
the  whole  party  threw  their  trunks  above  their  heads,  and 
instantly  clambered  up  the  adjacent  hill  with  incredible 
celerity,  their  huge  fan-like  ears  flapping  in  the  ratio  of 
their  speed.  We  instantly  mounted  our  horses,  the  sharp 
loose  stones  not  suiting  the  feet  of  the  wounded  lady,  soon 
closed  with  her.  Streaming  with  blood,  and  infuriated  with 
rage,  she  turned  upon  us  with  uplifted  trunk,  and  it  was  not 
until  after  repeated  discharges,  that  a  ball  took  effect  in  her 
brain,  and  threw  her  lifeless  upon  the  earth,  which  resounded 
with  the  fall. 

Turning  our  attention  from  the  exciting  scene  we  have 
described,  we  found  that  a  second  valley  had  opened  before 
us,  surrounded  by  bare  strong  hills,  and  traversed  by  a  thinly 
wooded  ravine.  Here  a  grand  and  magnificent  panorama 
was  before  us,  which  beggars  all  description.  The  whole 
face  of  the  landscape  was  actually  covered  with  wild  elephants. 
There  could  not  have  been  fewer  than  three  hundred  within 
the  scope  of  our  vision.  Every  height  and  green  knoll  was 
dotted  over  with  groups  of  them,  whilst  the  bottom  of  the 


ELEPHANT   HUNTING.  545 

glen  exhibited  a  dense  and  sable  living  mass — their  colossal 
forms  being  at  one  moment  partially  concealed  by  the  trees, 
•which  they  were  disfiguring  with  great  strength ;  and  at  others 
seen  majestically  emerging  into  the  open  glades,  bearing  in 
their  trunks  the  branches  of  trees,  with  which  they  indolently 
protected  themselves  from  the  flies.  The  back-ground  was 
filled  by  a  limited  peep  of  the  blue  mountainous  range,  which 
here  assumed  a  remarkably  precipitous  character,  and  com- 
pleted a  picture  at  once  soul-stirring  and  sublime  ! 

Our  approach  being  still  against  the  wind,  was  unobserved, 
and  created  little  alarm,  until  the  herd  that  we  had  left 
behind  suddenly  showed  itself,  recklessly  thundering  down 
the  hill  to  join  the  main  body,  and  passing  so  close  to  us 
that  we  could  not  refrain  from  firing  a  broadside  into  one 
of  them,  which,  however,  bravely  withstood  it.  "We  secured 
our  horses  on  the  summit  of  a  stony  ridge,  'j.d  then  station- 
ing ourselves  at  an  opportune  place  on  a  ledge  overlooking 
the  wooded  defile,  sent  Andries  to  maneuvre,  so  that  as 
many  of  the  elephants  as  possible  could  pass  before  us  in 
order  of  review,  that  we  might  ascertain  by  a  close  inspection 
whether  there  was  not  a  male  amongst  them.  Filing  slug- 
gishly along,  they  occasionally  halted  beneath  an  umbrageous 
tree,  within  fifteen  yards  of  us,  lazily  fanning  themselves 
with  their  ample  ears,  blowing  away  the  flies  with  their 
trunks,  and  uttering  the  feeble  and  peculiar  cry  so  peculiar  to 
Indian  elephants.  They  all  proved  to  be  ladies,  and  most  of 
them  mothers,  followed  by  their  little  old-fashioned  calves, 
each  trudging  close  to  the  heels  of  her  dam,  and  mimicking 
all  her  motions.  Thus  situated,  we  might  have  killed  any 
number  we  pleased,  their  heads  being  frequently  turned 
towards  us  in  such  a  position,  and  so  close,  that  a  single  ball 
in  the  brain  would  have  sufficed  for  each ;  but  whilst  we 
were  yet  hesitating,  a  bullet  suddenly  whizzed  past  Richard- 
son's ear,  and  put  the  whole  herd  to  immediate  flight.  We 
had  barely  time  to  recede  behind  a  tree,  before  a  party  of 

35 


546  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

about  twenty,  with  several  little  ones  in  their  wake,  were 
upon  us,  striding  at  their  utmost  speed,  and  trumpeting 
loudly  with  uplifted  heads.  I  rested  my  rifle  against  the 
tree,  and  firing  behind  the  shoulder  of  the  leader,  she  dropped 
instantly.  Another  large  detachment  being  close  behind  us  at 
the  same  moment,  we  were  compelled  to  retreat,  dodging  from 
tree  to  tree,  stumbling  amongst  sharp  stones,  and  ever  coming 
upon  fresh  parties  of  the  enemy.  This  scene  of  ludicrous 
confusion  did  not  long  continue,  and  soon  approaching  the 
prostrate  lady,  we  put  an  end  to  her  struggles  by  a  shot  in 
the  forehead.  Andries  now  came  up  in  high  good  humor  at 
his  achievements,  and  in  the  most  bravado  manner,  discharged 
his  piece  into  the  dead  carcass,  under  the  pretence  that  the 
animal  was  shamming.  His  object  evidently  was  to  confound 
the  shots,  for,  thrusting  his  middle  finger  into  the  orifice 
made  by  my  two-ounce  ball,  he  with  the  most  modest  assurance 
declared  himself  the  author  of  the  deed,  being  pleased 
altogether  to  overlook  the  fact  of  the  mortal  shot  having 
entered  the  elephant  on  the  side  opposite  to  that  on  which 
he  was  stationed,  and  that  his  own  ball,  whether  designedly 
or  not,  had  all  but  expended  my  worthy  and  esteemed  fellow- 
traveller. 

On  our  way  to  the  camp,  of  the  exact  position  of  which 
we  were  uncertain,  in  consequence  of  the  late  inundation,  we 
passed  three  other  large  herds  of  elephants.  One  of  these 
standing  directly  in  the  route,  we  attacked  it,  and  pursued 
the  fugitive  about  a  mile  over  loose  stones.  Much  has  been 
said  of  the  attachment  of  elephants  to  their  young,  but  neither 
on  this,  nor  on  any  subsequent  occasion,  did  we  perceive 
tlum  evince  the  smallest  concern  for  their  safety.  On  the 
contrary,  they  left  them  to  shift  for  themselves,  and  Mohany- 
com  and  Lingap,  who  were  behind  us,  assagaied  one,  the 
tail  of  which  they  brought  in.  We  slew  another  old  female 
as  we  ascended  the  brow  of  an  eminence,  and  at  the  same 
moment  perceived  our  wagons  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of 


ELEPHANT   HUNTING.  547 

the  spot.  The  whole  herd  dashed  through  the  camp,  causing 
indescribable  consternation  amongst  cattle  and  followers,  but 
fortunately  no  accident  occurred;  and  after  the  fatiguing 
day's  Avork  we  had  undergone,  we  were  not  sorry  to  find 
ourselves  at  home. 

Watery  clouds  hung  about  the  sun  as  he  set  heavily  behind 
the  mountains.  Loud  peals  of  crashing  thunder  rent  the 
air,  and  ere  it  was  yet  dark,  we  had  a  repetition  of  yesterday's 
storm ;  the  river  roaring  past  us  with  frightful  fury ;  troops 
of  elephants,  flying  from  the  scene  of  slaughter,  passed  close 
to  our  wagons  during  the  darkness,  their  wild  voices  echoing 
amongst  the  mountains,  and  sounding  like  trumpets  above 
the  tempest.  It  was  impossible  to  keep  the  fires  burning ; 
and  the  oxen  and  sheep  were  alarmed  to  such  a  degree  that 
they  broke  from  the  kraal,  and  sought  safety  in  the  wilder- 
ness. Tired  as  I  was,  the  excitement  I  had  undergone 
banished  sleep  from  my  eyes.  I  ruminated  on  the  spirit- 
stirring  events  of  the  day,  and  burned  with  impatience  to 
renew  them.  Heedless  of  the  withering  blast  that  howled 
without,  I  felt  that  my  most  sanguine  expectations  had  been 
realized,  and  that  we  had  already  been  amply  repaid  for  the 
difiiculties,  privations  and  dangers  that  we  had  encountered 
in  our  toilsome  journey  towards  this  fairy-land'  of  sport. 

It  was  still  raining  heavily  when  the  day  gloomily  dawned. 
The  mountain  torrents  having  overflowed  their  banks,  the 
valley  in  which  we  were  encamped  had  become  a  continuous 
pool  of  water,  and  those  of  our  followers  who  had  slung 
their  hammocks  beneath  the  wagons,  were  partially  sub- 
merged. High-roads  had  been  ploughed  through  the  mire 
by  the  passage  of  elephants,  and  whole  acres  of  grass,  by 
which  we  had  been  surrounded  the  preceding  evening,  had 
been  completely  trampled  down.  Soon  after  sunrise  it  cleared 
up,  and  the  cattle  having  been  recovered,  we  armed  a  party 
with  hatchets,  and  proceeded  on  foot  to  cut  out  the  teeth  of 


548  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

the  slain  elephants ;  but  walking  was  exceedingly  toilsome, 
and  our  feet  sinking  to  the  ankles  in  black  mud,  were  extri- 
cated with  inconceivable  difficulty.  Taking  advantage  of  our 
situation,  an  irritated  rhinoceros  sallied  from  behind  an  old 
stone  wall ;  and  the  damp  causing  three  of  the  balls  to  misa 
fire,  he  was  actually  amongst  us,  when  my  ball  fortunately 
pierced  his  eye,  and  he  fell  dead  at  our  feet. 

Not  an  elephant  was  to  be  seen  on  the  ground  that  was 
yesterday  teeming  with  them ;  but  on  reaching  the  glen, 
which  had  been  the  scene  of  our  exploits  during  the  early 
part  of  the  action,  a  calf  about  three  feet  and  a  half  high, 
walked  forth  from  a  bush,  and  saluted  us  with  mournful 
piping  notes.  We  had  observed  the  unhappy  little  wretch 
hovering  about  its  mother  after  she  fell,  and  having  probably 
been  unable  to  overtake  the  herd,  it  had  passed  a  dreary 
night  in  the  wood.  Entwining  its  little  proboscis  about  our 
legs,  the  sagacious  creature,  after  demonstrating  its  delight 
at  our  arrival  by  a  thousand  ungainly  antics,  accompanied 
the  party  to  the  body  of  its  dam,  which,  swollen  to  an  enor- 
mous size,  was  surrounded  by  an  inquest  of  vultures.  Seated 
in  gaunt  array,  with  their  shoulders  shrugged,  these  loathe- 
some  fowls  were  waiting  its  decomposition  with  forced 
resignation ;  the  tough  hide  having  defied  all  the  efforts  of 
their  beaks,  with  which  the  eyes  and  softer  parts  had  been 
vigorously  assailed.  The  conduct  of  the  quaint  little  calf 
now  became  quite  affecting,  and  elicited  the  sympathy  of 
every  one.  It  ran  round  its  mother's  corpse  with  touching 
demonstrations  of  grief,  piping  sorrowfully,  and  vainly 
attempted  to  raise  her  with  its  tiny  trunk.  I  confess  that 
I  had  felt  compunctions  in  committing  the  murder  the  day 
before,  and  now  half  resolved  never  to  assist  in  another; 
for  in  addition  to  the  moving  behavior  of  the  young  elephant, 
I  had  been  unable  to  divest  myself  of  the  idea  that  I  was 
firing  at  my  old  favorite,  Mowla-Bukhsh,  from  whose  gallant 


ELEPHANT   HUNTING.  549 

back  I  had  vanquished  so  many  of  my  feline  foes  in  Guzerat 
— an  impression  which,  however  ridiculous  it  must  appear, 
detracted  considerably  from  the  satisfaction  I  experienced. 

The  operation  of  hewing  out  three  pairs  of  tusks  occupied 
several  hours,  their  roots,  embedded  in  massy  sockets,  spread- 
ing over  the  greater  portion  of  the  face.  My  Indian  friends 
will  marvel  when  they  hear  of  tusks  being  extricated  from 
the  jaws  of  a  female  elephant — but  with  very  few  exceptions, 
all  that  we  saw  had  these  accessories,  measuring  from  three 
to  four  feet  in  length.  I  have  already  stated  my  belief  that 
the  maximum  height  of  the  African  male  is  twelve  feet ;  that 
of  the  female  averages  eight  and  a  half — the  enormous  magni- 
tude of  the  ears,  which  not  only  cover  the  whole  of  the 
shoulder,  but  overlap  each  other  on  the  neck,  to  the  complete 
exclusion  of  the  mahout,  or  driver,  constituting  another 
striking  feature  of  difference  between  the  two  species.  The 
forehead  is  remarkably  large  and  prominent,  and  consists  of 
two  Avails  or  tables,  between  which,  a  wide  cellular  space 
intervening,  a  ball,  hardened  with  tin  or  quicksilver,  readily 
penetrates  to  the  brain,  and  proves  instantaneously  fatal. 

The  barbarous  tribes  that  people  Southern  Africa,  have 
never  dreamed  of  the  possibility  of  rendering  this  lordly 
quadruped  serviceable  in  a  domestic  capacity ;  and  even 
amongst  the  colonists,  there  exists  an  unaccountable  super- 
stition that  his  subjugation  is  not  to  be  accomplished.  His 
capture,  however,  may  readily  be  achieved ;  and  as  he  appears 
to  possess  all  the  aptitude  of  his  Asiatic  relative,  the  only 
difficulty  that  presents  itself,  is  the  general  absence,  within 
our  territories,  of  sufficient  food  for  his  support.  Were  he 
once  domesticated  and  arrayed  against  the  beasts  of  the 
forest,  Africa  would  realize  the  very  beau  ideal  of  magnifi- 
cent sport.  It  is  also  worthy  of  remark,  that  no  attempt  has 
ever  been  made  on  the  part  of  the  colonists  to  naturalize 
another  most  useful  animal,  the  camel,  although  the  soil,  cli- 
mate, and  productions  appear  alike  to  favor  its  introduction. 


550  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTEKS. 

All  this  is  plain  sailing,  and  something  we  common  mor 
tals  can  comprehend,  foreign  and  unusual  as  its  picturings 
and  details  are ;  but  it  is  nothing  comparatively  with  what 
Mr.  Cummings  has  to  tell  of  different  modes  of  hunting  the 
elephant,  as  practised  by  himself  higher  up  in  the  extraordi- 
nary valley  of  the  Limpopo.  Hear  him  for  his  story — 

On  the  17th  of  September  I  resolved  to  leave  the  fountain 
of  Seboono,  as  it  was  much  disturbed,  and  to  proceed  with 
a  few  Bakalahari  to  a  small  yet  famous  v  ater  about  six  miles 
to  the  south-east.  We  accordingly  saddled  up  and  held 
thither.  On  reaching  this  fountain,  Avhich  is  called  by  the 
natives  "Paapaa,"  I  found  the  numerous  foot-paths  leading 
to  it  covered,  as  I  had  anticipated,  with  fresh  spoor  of 
elephant  and  rhinoceros.  I  then  at  once  proceeded  to  study 
the  best  spot  on  which  to  make  our  shooting-hole  for  the 
night.  It  would  be  impossible  to  prevent  some  of  the  game 
from  getting  our  wind,  for  the  foot-paths  led  to  it  from  every 
side.  The  prevailing  wind  was  from  the  east,  so  I  pitched 
upon  the  south-west  corner  of  the  fountain.  The  water  was 
not  more  than  twenty  yards  long  and  ten  broad.  The  west 
side  was  bounded  by  tufous  rock,  which  rose  abruptly  from 
the  water  about  five  feet  high.  The  top  of  this  rock  was 
level  with  the  surrounding  vley,  and  here  all  the  elephants 
drank,  as  if  suspicious  of  treading  on  the  muddy  margin  on 
the*  other  three  sides  of  the  fountain.  I  made  our  shooting- 
box  within  six  or  eight  yards  of  the  water,  constructing  it  in 
a  circular  form,  of  bushes  packed  together  so  as  to  form  a 
hedge  about  three  feet  high.  On  the  top  of  the  hedge  I 
placed  heavy  dead  old  branches  of  trees,  so  as  to  form  a  fine 
clear  rest  for  our  rifles ;  these  clean  old  branches  were  all 
lashed  firmly  together  with  strips  of  thorn  bark.  All  being 
completed,  I  took  the  Bakalahari  and  our  steeds  to  a  shady 
tree,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  leeward  of  the  fountain, 
where  we  formed  a  kraall,  and  off-saddled.  This  day  was 
particularly  adapted  to  bring  game  to  the  water,  the  sun 


ELEPHANT   HUNTING.  551 

being  extremely  powerful,  and  a  hot,  dry  wind  prevailing  all 
the  afternoon.  I  told  Carey  that  we  were  certain  of  having 
a  good  night's  sport,  and  I  was  right,  fer  we  undoubtedly 
had  about  the  finest  night's  sport  and  the  most  wonderful 
that  was  ever  enjoyed  by  man. 

A  little  before  the  sun  went  down,  leaving  our  kraal,  we 
held  to  the  fountain,  having  with  us  our  heavy-metaled  rifles, 
karosses  and  two  Bakalahari.  We  also  had  two  small  guns, 
my  double-barreled  Westley  Richards  and  Carey's  single- 
barreled  gun.  As  we  approached  the  fountain,  a  stately 
bull  giraffe  stood  before  us ;  the  heat  of  the  day  had  brought 
him  thither,  but  he  feared  to  go  in  and  drink ;  on  observing 
us,  he  walked  slowly  away.  Two  jackals  were  next  detected. 
Guinea-fowl,  partridges,  two  or  three  sorts  of  pigeon  and 
turtle-dove,  and  small  birds  in  countless  thousands,  were 
pouring  in  to  drink  from  every  airt,  as  we  walked  up  to  our 
hiding-place  and  lay  doAvn.  In  a  few  minutes  the  sun  was 
under ;  but  the  moon  was  strong  and  high  (it  being  within 
three  nights  of  the  full),  and  the  sky  was  clear,  with  scarcely 
a  cloud.  Yery  soon  a  step  was  heard  approaching  from  the 
east :  it  was  a  presuming  black  rhinoceros.  He  came  up 
within  ten  yards  of  the  hiding-hole,  and,  observing  us  with 
his  sharp,  prying  eye,  at  once  came  slowly  forward  for  a 
nearer  inspection.  I  then  shouted  to  him ;  but  this  he  did 
not  heed  in  the  slightest.  I  then  sprang  up  and  waved  my 
large  kaross,  shouting  at  the  same  time.  This,  however, 
only  seemed  to  amuse  Boreld,  for  he  stood  within  four  yards 
of  us,  with  his  horn  threatening  our  momentary  destruction, 
nor  would  he  wheel  about  until  I  threw  a  log  of  wood  at  him. 
Black  rhinoceroses  are  very  difficult  to  scare  when  they  do 
not  get  the  wind ;  the  best  way  to  do  so  is  to  hit  them  with 
a  stone — that  is,  in  the  event  of  the  sportsman  not  wishing 
to  fire  off  his  gun. 

Soon  after  Boreld  departed,  four  old  bull  elephants  dre?r 


552  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

near  from  the  south.  They  were  coming  right  on  for  the 
spot  where  we  lay,  and  they  seemed  very  likely  to  walk  over 
the  top  of  us.  We  therefore  placed  our  two  big  rifles  in 
position,  and  awaited  their  forward  movement  with  intense 
interest.  On  they  came,  with  slow  and  stately  step,  until 
within  twenty  yards  of  us,  when  the  leading  elephant  took 
it  into  his  head  to  pass  to  leeward.  We  let  him  come  on 
until  he  got  our  wind ;  he  was  then  within  ten  yards  of  the 
muzzles  of  our  heavy-metaled  rifles ;  on  winding  us,  he 
tossed  his  trunk  aloft,  and  we  instantly  fired  together.  I 
caught  him  somewhere  about  the  heart,  and  my  big  six-pound 
rifle  burst  in  Carey's  hands,  very  nearly  killing  us  both. 
The  elephant,  on  being  fired  at,  wheeled  about,  and  retreated 
to  the  forest  at  top  speed.  I  now  directed  "  Stick-in-the-mud" 
to  make  use  of  his  single-barreled  twelve  to  the  pound  in  the 
event  of  more  elephants  coming  up ;  and  thanking  my  stars 
that  the  old  Dutch  rifle  had  not  sent  us  both  to  the  land  of 
the  leal,  I  sat  down  and  watched  the  dark  masses  of  trees 
that  cut  the  sky  on  every  side,  in  the  hope  of  seeing  a  mass 
as  high  and  wide  come  towering  forward  into  the  open  space 
that  surrounded  the  fountain. 

Nor  did  I  watch  long  in  vain,  for  very  soon  three  princely 
bull  elephants  appeared  exactly  where  the  first  came  on,  and 
holding  exactly  the  same  course.  They  approached  just  as 
the  first  had  done.  When  the  leading  elephant  came  within 
ten  yards  of  us,  he  got  our  wind  and  tossed  up  his  trunk, 
and  was  wheeling  round  to  retreat,  when  we  fired  together, 
and  sent  our  bullets  somewhere  about  his  heart.  He  ran  two 
hundred  yards  and  then  stood,  being  evidently  dying.  His 
comrades  halted  likewise,  but  one  of  them,  the  finest  of  the 
three,  almost  immediately  turned  his  head  once  more  to  the 
fountain,  and  very  slowly  and  warily  came  on.  We  now 
heard  the  wounded  elephant  utter  the  cry  of  death,  and  fall 
heavily  on  the  earth.  Carey,  whose  ears  were  damaged  by 


ELEPHANT  HUNTING.  553 

the  bursting  of  the  big  rifle,  did  not  catch  this  sound,  but 
swore  that  the  elephant  which  now  so  stealthily  approached 
the  water  was  the  one  at  which  we  had  fired. 

It  was  interesting  to  observe  this  grand  old  bull  approach 
the  fountain :  he  seemed  to  mistrust  the  very  earth  on  which 
he  stood,  and  smelt  and  examined  with  his  trunk  every  yard 
of  the  ground  before  he  trod  on  it,  and  sometimes  stood  five 
minutes  on  one  spot  without  moving.  At  length,  having 
gone  round  three  sides  of  the  fountain,  and  being  apparently 
satisfied  as  to  the  correctness  of  everything,  he  stepped 
boldly  forward  on  to  the  rock  on  the  west,  and,  walking  up 
within  six  or  seven  yards  of  the  muzzles  of  our  rifles,  turned 
his  broadside,  and,  lowering  his  trunk  into  the  water,  drew 
up  a  volume  of  water,  which  he  threw  over  his  back  and 
shoulders  to  cool  his  person.  This  operation  he  repeated 
two  or  three  times,  after  which  he  commenced  drinking,  by 
drawing  the  water  into  his  trunk  and  then  pouring  it  into 
his  mouth.  I  determined  to  break  his  leg  if  possible;  so, 
covering  the  limb  about  level  with  the  lower  line  of  his  body, 
I  fired,  Carey  firing  for  his  heart.  I  made  a  lucky  shot; 
and  as  the  elephant  turned  and  attempted  to  make  away, 
his  leg  broke  with  a  loud  crack,  and  he  stood  upon  his  three 
sound  ones.  At  once  disabled  and  utterly  incapable  of 
escaping,  he  stood  statue-like  beside  the  fountain,  within  a 
few  yards  of  where  he  had  got  the  shot,  and  only  occasion- 
ally made  an  attempt  at  locomotion. 

The  patch  of  my  rifle  fired  at  this  elephant's  comrade  had 
ignited  a  large  ball  of  dry  old  dung,  about  eight  yards  to 
leeward  of  our  kraal,  and,  fanned  by  the  breeze,  it  was 
now  burning  away  very  brightly,  the  sparks  flying  in  the 
wind.  Presently,  on  looking  about  me,  I  beheld  two  bull 
elephants  approaching  by  the  self-same  foot-path  which  the 
others  had  held.  The  first  of  these  was  a  half-grown  bull, 
the  last  was  an  out-and-out  old  fellow  with  enormous  tusks. 
They  came  on  as  the  first  had  done,  but  seemed  inclined 


654  "WILD    SCENES   AND    WILD    HUNTERS. 

to  pass  to  windward  of  us.  The  young  bull,  however,  observed 
the  fire ;  he  at  once  walked  up  to  it,  and,  smelling  at  it  with 
his  trunk,  seemed  extremely  amused,  and  in  a  gamboling 
humor  threw  his  trunk  about,  as  if  not  knowing  what  to 
think  of  it.  The  larger  bull  now  came  up  and  exposed  a 
fine  broadside ;  we  took  him  behind  the  shoulder  and  fired 
together ;  on  receiving  the  shots,  he  wheeled  about  and  held 
west  with  drooping  ears,  evidently  mortally  wounded. 

Some  time  after  this  I  detected  an  enormous  old  bull 
elephant  approaching  from  the  west.  If  we  lay  still  where 
we  were,  he  must  in  a  few  minutes  get  our  wind,  so  we 
jumped  up  and  ran  forward  out  of  his  line  of  march. 
Here  a  boreld  opposed  our  further  progress,  and  we  had 
to  stone  him  out  of  our  way.  The  elephant  came  on,  and 
presently  got  the  wind  of  where  we  had  been  lying.  This 
at  once  seemed  to  awake  his  suspicions,  for  he  stood  still 
among  the  trees,  stretching  his  trunk  from  side  to  side  to 
catch  the  scent,  and  doubtful  whether  he  should  advance  or 
retreat.  We  then  ran  toward  him,  and  stalked  in  within 
forty  yards  of  where  he  stood,  and,  taking  up  a  position 
behind  a  bush,  awaited  his  forward  movement.  The  elephant 
came  slowly  forward,  and  I  thought  would  pass  to  windward 
of  us,  when  he  suddenly  altered  his  course,  and  walked  boldly 
forward  right  for  where  we  stood.  He  camu  on  until  within 
seven  or  eight  yards,  when  I  coughed  loudly  to  turn  him. 
lie  tossed  up  his  trunk  and  turned  quickly  round  to  fly ;  as 
he  turned,  however,  we  fired  together,  when  the  elephant 
uttered  a  shrill  cry  of  distress,  and  crashed  away,  evidently 
hard  hit.  When  this  bull  was  standing  before  us,  we  both 
remarked  that  he  was  the  finest  we  had  seen  that  night :  his 
tusks  were  extremely  long,  thick,  and  very  unusually  wide  set. 

We  now  returned  to  the  fountain,  and  once  more  lay  down 
to  watch.  Rhinoceroses,  both  black  and  white,  were  parading 
around  us  all  night  in  every  direction.  We  had  lain  but 
a  short  time  when  I  detected  a  single  old  bull  elephant 


ELEPHANT   HUNTING.  555 

approaching  from  the  south  by  the  same  path  which  all  the 
others  had  held.  This  elephant  must  have  been  very  thirsty, 
for  he  came  boldly  on  without  any  hesitation,  and,  keeping 
to  windward,  walked  past  within  about  eight  yards  of  us. 
We  fired  at  the  same  moment ;  the  elephant  wheeled  about, 
and,  after  running  a  hundred  yards,  reduced  his  pace  to  a 
slow  walk.  I  clapped  Carey  on  the  shoul  ler,  and  said,  "  We 
have  him."  I  had  hardly  uttered  the  words  when  he  fell 
over  on  his  side;  he  rose,  however,  again  to  his  feet.  At 
this  moment  the  same  presuming  borele'  who  had  troubled  us 
in  the  early  part  of  the  night  came  up  to  us  again,  and, 
declining  as  before  to  depart  by  gentle  hints,  I  thought  it  a 
fitting  moment  to  put  an  end  to  his  intrusion,  and  accord- 
ingly gave  him  a  baH  behind  the  shoulder.  On  receiving  it, 
he  galloped  off  in  tremendous  consternation,  and  passed  close 
under  the  dying  elephant,  who  at  the  moment  fell  dead  with 
a  heavy  crash,  and  broke  one  of  his  hind  legs  under  him  in 
the  fall. 

About  an  hour  after  two  more  elephants  came  towering  on 
from  the  east.  When  they  came  up  they  stood  for  a  long 
time  motionless  within  forty  yards  of  the  water ;  and  at 
length  the  finer  of  the  two,  which  was  a  very  first-rate  old 
bull,  and  carrying  immense  tusks,  walked  boldly  forward, 
and,  passing  round  the  north  side  of  the  fountain,  commenced 
drinking  on  the  rock,  just  as  the  crippled  bull  had  done.  We 
both  fired  together,  holding  for  his  heart;  the  bullets  must 
have  gone  nearly  through  him,  for  we  had  double  charges  of 
powder  in  our  weapons.  On  receiving  the  shots  he  dropped 
a  volume  of  water  from  his  trunk,  and,  tossing  it  aloft,  uttered 
a  loud  cry  and  made  off,  steering  north ;  but  before  he  was 
out  of  our  sight  he  reduced  his  pace  to  a  slow  walk,  and  I 
could  quite  plainly  hear,  by  the  loud,  painful  breathing 
through  his  trunk,  that  .  he  was  mortally  wounded ;  but 
whether  the  natives  were  too  lazy  to  seek  him,  or  having 
found  him  would  not  tell  me,  I  know  not,  but  I  never  got 


556  WILD    SCENES   AND    WILD   HUNTERS. 

• 

him.  We  shot  another  bull  elephant  shortly  after  this  ;  he, 
too,  uttered  a  shrill  cry,  and  went  off  holding  the  same  course 
the  last  one  did ;  that  was,  however,  all  that  I  ever  saw  of 
him. 

Eight  elephants  killed  and  four  t  bagged'  were  the  '  trophies' 
of  this  extraordinary  night's  sport,  beside  the  'borele"  and 
other  '  small  fry' — enough,  surely,  to  have  appeased  the 
appetite  for  slaughter  of  the  veritable  Nimrod  of  eld  himself 
— but  there  follows  a  variation  upon  this  comparatively  tame 
sport. 

The  next  night  I  put  in  practice  a  novel  experiment  I  had 
long  entertained — that  of  hunting  elephants  by  moonlight 
with  dogs  and  horses,  as  in  the  day,  being  very  much  annoyed 
at  wounding  and  losing  in  the  last  week  no  less  than  ten  first- 
rate  old  bull  elephants.  I  communicated  my  idea  to  '  Stick- 
in-the-mud,'  and  we  hastily  proceeded  to  saddle  my  steed.  I 
led  my  dogs,  eight  in  number,  through  the  forest  to  leeward 
of  where  a  bull  who  had  come  to  the  fountain  to  drink  had 
gone  in,  and  when  I  saw  that  they  had  got  his  wind  I  slipped 
them.  They  clashed  forward  and  next  minute  I  followed  tho 
baying  of  the  dogs,  and  the  crash  and  the  trumpet  of  the 
elephant.  He  rushed  away  at  first  without  halting,  and  held 
right  for  the  mountains  to  the  south-west.  When,  however, 
he  found  that  his  speed  did  not  avail,  and  that  he  could  not 
get  away  from  his  pursuers,  he  began  to  turn  and  dodge 
about  in  the  thickest  of  the  cover,  occasionally  making 
charges  after  the  dogs.  I  followed  on  as  best  I  could, 
shouting  with  all  my  might  to  encourage  my  (jood  hounds. 
These,  hearing  their  master's  voice  beside  them,  stuck  well 
by  the  elephant,  and  fought  him  better  than  in  the  day.  I 
gave  him  my  first  two  shots  from  the  saddle ;  after  which,  I 
rode  close  up  to  him,  and,  running  in  on  foot,  gave  him  some 
deadly  shots  at  distances  of  from  fifteen  to  twenty  yards. 

The  elephant  very  soon  evinced  signs  of  distress,  and 
ceased  to  make  away  from  us.  Taking  up  positions  in  the 


ELEPHANT   HUNTING.  557 

densest  parts  of  the  cover,  he  caught  up  the  red  dust  with 
his  trunk,  and  throwing  it  over  his  head  and  back,  endeavored 
to  conceal  himself  in  a  cloud.  This  was  a  fine  opportunity 
to  pour  in  my  deadly  shafts,  and  I  took  care  to  avail  myself 
of  it.  When  he  had  received  about  twelve  shots,  he  walked 
slowly  forward  in  a  dying  state,  the  blood  streaming  from 
his  trunk.  I  rode  close  up  to  him,  and  gave  him  a  sharp 
right  and  left  from  the  saddle :  he  turned  and  walked  a  few 
yards,  then  suddenly  came  down  with  tremendous  violence  on 
his  vast  stern,  pitching  his  head  and  trunk  aloft  to  a  pro- 
digious height,  and,  falling  heavily  over  on  his  side,  expired. 
This  was  an  extremely  large  and  handsome  elephant,  decidedly 
the  finest  bull  I  had  shot  this  year.  Afraid  of  taking  cold 
or  rheumatism,  for  I  was  in  a  most  profuse  perspiration,  I 
hastened  back  to  my  fireside,  having  first  secured  all  the  dog3 
in  their  couples.  Here  I  divested  myself  of  my  leather 
tro'wsers,  shooting-belt,  and  veldt-schoens,  and,  stretched  on 
my  kaross,  I  took  tea,  and  wondered  at  the  facility  with 
which  I  had  captured  this  mighty  elephant. 

Feeling  fatigued,  I  intended  to  lie  down  and  rest  till 
morning.  Just,  however,  as  I  was  arranging  my  saddles 
for  a  pillow,  I  beheld  another  first-rate  old  bull  elephant 
advancing  up  the  vley  from  the  south.  I  at  once  resolved 
that  he,  too,  should  run  the  gauntlet  wLh  the  dogs.  In 
immense  haste,  therefore,  I  once  more  pulled  on  my  old 
leathers,  and  buckled  on  my  shooting-belt,  and  ran  down 
into  the  rank  long  grass  beside  the  fountain  to  meet  him, 
armed  with  the  large  two-grooved  rifle,  having  directed  Carey 
and  Piet  to  come  slowly  up  with  the  dogs  and  my  horse  and 
gun  as  soon  as  they  were  ready.  The  elephant  came  on,  and 
stood  drinking  within  thirty  yards  of  me.  When  I  saw 
Carey  coming  on  with  the  dogs  and  steed,  I  fired,  but  my 
rifle  hung  fire.  The  shot,  however,  gave  the  dogs  good 
courage,  and  they  fought  well.  The  elephant  took  away 
at  a  rapid  pace  toward  the  other  fountain  where  the  Bechu" 


558  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

anas  lay,  and  at  first  led  me  through  very  bad  wait-a-bit 
thorn  cover,  which  once  or  twice  nearly  swept  me  out  of  the 
saddle.  Presently  he  inclined  to  the  west,  and  got  into 
better  country ;  I  then  rode  close  up  to  him,  and  bowled 
him  over  with  four  shots. 

With  one  more  glimpse  of  the  cool  extravagance  charac- 
teristic of  the  Professional  Hunter,  and  of  which  Cummings 
has  prided  himself  upon  giving  us  so  many  specimens,  we 
take  our  leave  of  elephant  hunting  in  South  Africa.  The 
following  is  most  refreshing. 

On  the  31st  I  held  south-east  in  quest  of  elephants,  with  a 
large  party  of  the  natives.  Our  course  lay  through  an  open 
part  of  the  forest,  where  I  beheld  a  troop  of  springboks  and 
two  ostriches,  the  first  I  had  seen  for  a  long  time.  We  held 
for  Towannie,  a  strong  fountain  in  the  gravelly  bed  of  a 
periodical  river :  here  two  herds  of  cow  elephants  had  drunk 
on  the  preceding  evening,  but  I  declined  to  follow  them ;  and 
presently,  at  a  muddy  fountain  a  little  in  advance,  we  took 
up  the  spoor  of  an  enormous  bull,  which  had  wallowed  in  the 
mud,  and  then  plastered  the  sides  of  several  of  the  adjacent 
veteran-looking  trees.  We  followed  the  spoor  through  level 
forest  in  an  easterly  direction,  when  the  leading  party  overran 
the  spoor,  and  casts  were  made  for  its  recovery.  Presently 
I  detected  an  excited  native  beckoning  violently  a  little  to  my 
left,  and,  cantering  up  to  him,  he  said  that  he  had  seen  the 
elephant.  He  led  me  through  the  forest  a  few  hundred  yard?, 
when,  clearing  a  wait-a-bit,  I  came  full  in  view  of  the  tallest 
and  largest  bull  elephant  I  had  ever  seen.  He  stood  broadside 
to  me,  at  upward  of  one  hundred  yards,  and  his  attention  at 
the  moment  was  occupied  with  the  dogs,  which,  unaware  of 
his  proximity,  were  rushing  past  him,  while  the  old  fellow 
seemed  to  gaze  at  their  unwonted  appearance  with  surprise. 

Halting  my  horse,  I  fired  at  his  shoulder,  and  secured  him 
with  a  single  shot.  The  ball  caught  him  high  upon  the 
shoulder-blade,  rendering  him  instantly  dead  lame ;  and 


ELEPHANT   HUNTING.  559 

before  the  echo  of  the  bullet  could  reach  my  ear,  I  plainly 
saw  that  the  elephant  was  mine.  The  dogs  now  came  up  and 
barked  around  him,  but  finding  himself  incapacitated,  the  old 
fellow  seemed  determined  to  take  it  easy,  and,  limping  slowly 
to  a  neighboring  tree,  he  remained  stationary,  eyeing  his 
pursuers  with  a  resigned  and  philosophic  air. 

I  resolved  to  devote  a  short  time  to  the  contemplation  of 
this  noble  elephant  before  I  should  lay  him  low ;  accordingly, 
having  off-saddled  the  horses  beneath  a  shady  tree  which  was 
to  be  my  quarters  for  the  night  and  ensuing  day,  I  quickly 
kindled  a  fire  and  put  on  the  kettle,  and  in  a  very  few  minutes 
my  coffee  was  prepared.  There  I  sat  in  my  forest  home, 
coolly  sipping  my  coffee,  with  one  of  the  fine'st  elephants  iu 
Africa  awaiting  my  pleasure  beside  a  neighboring  tree. 

It  was,  indeed,  a  striking  scene ;  and  as  I  gazed  upon  the 
stupendous  veteran  of  the  forest,  I  thought  of  the  red  deer 
which  I  loved  to  follow  in  my  native  land,  and  felt  that, 
though  the  Fates  had  driven  me  to  follow  a  more  daring  and 
arduous  avocation  in  a  distant  land,  it  was  a  good  exchange 
which  I  had  made,  for  I  was  now  a  chief  over  boundless 
forests,  which  yielded  unspeakably  more  noble  and  exciting 
sport. 

Having  admired  the  elephant  for  a  considerable  time,  I 
resolved  to  make  experiments  for  vulnerable  points,  and, 
approaching  very  near,  I  fired  several  bullets  at  different 
parts  of  his  enormous  skull.  These  did  not  seem  to  affect 
him  in  the  slightest ;  he  only  acknowledged  the  shots  by  a 
"salaam-like"  movement  of  his  trunk,  with  the  point  of  which 
he  gently  touched  the  wound  with  a  striking  and  peculiar 
action.  Surprised  and  shocked  to  find  that  I  was  only  tor- 
menting and  prolonging  the  sufferings  of  the  noble  beast,  which 
bore  his  trials  with  such  dignified  composure,  I  resolved  to 
finish  the  proceeding  with  all  possible  dispatch  ;  accordingly, 
I  opened  fire  upon  him  from  the  left  side,  aiming  behind  the 
shoulder ;  but  even  there  it  was  long  before  my  bullets 


560  WILD   SCENES   AND  VTILD   HUNTERS. 

seemed  to  take  effect.  I  first  fired  six  shots  with  the  two- 
grooved,  which  must  have  eventually  proved  mortal,  but  aa 
yet  he  evinced  no  visible  distress ;  after  which  I  fired  three 
shots  at  the  same  part  with  the  Dutch  six-pounder.  Large 
tears  now  trickled  from  his  eyes,  which  he  slowly  shut  and 
opened ;  his  colossal  frame  quivered  convulsively,  and,  falling 
on  his  side,  he  expired.  The  tusks  of  this  elephant  were 
beautifully  arched,  and  were  the  heaviest  I  had  yet  met  with, 
averaging  ninety  pounds  weight  apiece. 

All  this  is  cool — very !  It  is  picturesque,  not  to  say 
theatrical !  Mr.  Cummings,  at  this  rate,  might  be  educated 
into  a  good  American  Borderer,  and  some  day  "come  up  to 
the  scratch"  in  a  duello,  hand-to-claw  with  a  Grisly  Bear, 
after  having  exchanged  the  compliments  of  the  morning  with 
him  beneath  the  cold  shadows  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  peaks ! 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THE    GIRAFFE. 

I  HAVE  before  hinted  at  the  degree  in  which  Cummingg 
has  made  Harris  his  model,  in  his  new  book,  "Five  Years 
in  South  Africa."  I  therefore  propose  to  give,  one  after  the 
other,  the  account  each  has  furnished  of  his  firsst  interview 
with  the  giraffe.  They  are  different,  yet  alike  in  many 
curious  particulars;  and  as  their  faets  are  equally  inter- 
esting, it  is  pleasing  to  compare  the  impressions  of  these 
two  notorious,  if  not  remarkable  examples  of  the  Hunter- 
Naturalist,  from  nearly  the  same  point  of  view.  I  give 
Cummings  the  advantage  of  presenting  his  first. 

This  day  was  to  me  rather  a  memorable  one,  as  the  first 
on  which  I  saw  and  slew  the  lofty,  graceful-looking  giraffe 
or  camelopard,  with  which,  during  many  years  of  my  life,  I 
nad  longed  to  form  an  acquaintance. 

These  gigantic  and  exquisitely  beautiful  animals,  which 
are  admirably  formed  by  nature  to  adorn  the  fair  forests 
that  clothe  the  boundless  plains  of  the  interior,  are  widely 
distributed  throughout  the  interior  of  Southern  Africa,  but 
are  nowhere  to  be  met  with  in  great  numbers.  In  countries 
unmolested  by  the  intrusive  foot  of  man,  the  giraffe  is  found 
generally  in  herds  varying  from  twelve  to  sixteen ;  but  I 
have  not  unfrequently  met  with  herds  containing  thirty  indi- 
viduals, and  on  one  occasion  I  counted  forty  together ;  this,, 
however,  was  owing  to  chance,  and  about  sixteen  may  be 
reckoned  as  the  average  number  of  a  herd. 

These  herds  are  composed  of  giraffes  of  various  sizes,  from 
the  young  giraffe  of  nine  or  ten  feet  in  height,  to  the  dark, 

36  561 


562  WILD   SCENES  AN1,   WILD   HUNTERS. 

chestnut-colored  old  bull  of  the  herd,  whose  exalted  head 
towers  above  his  companions,  generally  attaining  to  a  height 
of  upwards  of  eighteen  feet.  The  females  are  of  lower 
stature  and  more  delicately  formed  than  the  males,  their 
height  averaging  from  sixteen  to  seventeen  feet. 

Some  writers  have  discovered  ugliness  and  a  want  of 
grace  in  the  giraffe,  but  I  consider  that  he  is  one  of  the 
most  strikingly  beautiful  animals  in  creation ;  and  when  a 
herd  of  them  is  seen  scattered  through  a  grove  of  the 
picturesque  parasol-topped  acacias  which  adorn  their  native 
plains,  and  on  whose  uppermost  shoots  they  are  enabled  to 
browse  by  the  colossal  height  with  which  nature  has  so 
admirably  endowed  them,  he  must  indeed  be  slow  of  concep- 
tion who  fails  to  discover  both  grace  and  dignity  in  all  their 
movements. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  every  animal  is  seen  to  the 
greatest  advantage  in  the  haunts  which  nature  destined  him 
to  adorn ;  and  among  the  various  living  creatures  which 
beautify  this  fair  creation,  I  have  often  traced  a  remarkable 
resemblance  between  the  animal  and  the  general  appearance 
of  the  locality  in  which  it  is  found.  This  I  remarked  at 
an  early  period  of  my  life,  when  entomology  occupied  a 
part  of  my  attention.  No  person  following  this  interesting 
pursuit  can  fail  to  observe  the  extraordinary  likeness  which 
insects  bear  to  the  various  abodes  in  which  they  are  met 
with.  Thus,  among  the  long,  green  grass,  we  find  a  variety 
of  long,  green  insects,  whose  legs  and  antennae  so  resemble 
the  shoots  emanating  from  the  stalks  of  the  grass  that  it 
requires  a  practiced  eye  to  distinguish  them.  Throughout 
Bandy  districts,  varieties  of  insects  are  met  with  of  a  color 
similar  to  the  sand  which  they  inhabit. 

Among  the  green  leaves  of  the  various  trees  of  the  forest 
innumerable  leaf-colored  insects  are  to  found ;  while,  closely 
adhering  to  the  rough,  gray  bark  of  these  forest-trees,  we 
observe  beautifully-colored  gray-looking  moths  of  various 


THE    FIRST    GIRAFFE   HUNT.  563 

patterns,  yet  altogether  so  resembling  the  bark  as  to  be 
invisible  to  the  passing  observer. 

In  like  manner,  among  quadrupeds  I  have  traced  a  corres- 
ponding analogy;  for,  even  in  the  case  of  the  stupendous 
elephant,  the  ashy  color  of  his  hide  so  corresponds  with  the 
gray,  thorny  jungles  which  he  frequents  throughout  the  day, 
that  a  person  unaccustomed  to  hunting  elephants,  standing 
on  a  commanding  situation,  might  look  down  upon  a  herd 
and  fail  to  detect  their  presence. 

And  further,  in  the  case  of  the  giraffe,  which  is  invariably 
met  with  among  venerable  forests,  where  innumerable  blasted 
and  weather-beaten  trunks  and  stems  occur,  I  have  repeatedly 
been  in  doubt  as  to  the  presence  of  a  troop  of  them  until  I 
had  recourse  to  my  spy-glass ;  and  on  referring  the  case  to 
my  savage  attendants,  I  have  known  even  their  optics  to  fail, 
at  one  time  even  mistaking  these  dilapidated  trunks  for 
camelopards,  and  again  confounding  real  camelopards  with 
these  aged  veterans  of  the  forest. 

Although  we  had  now  been  travelling  many  days  through 
the  country  of  the  giraffe,  and  had  marched  through  forests 
in  which  their  spoor  was  abundant,  our  eyes  had  not  yet 
been  gifted  with  a  sight  of  "  Tootla"  himself;  it  was  there- 
fore with  indescribable  pleasure  that,  on  the  evening  of  the 
11  th,  I  beheld  a  troop  of  these  interesting  animals. 

Our  breakfast  being  finished,  I  resumed  my  journey 
through  an  endless  gray  forest  of  cameel-dorn  and  other 
trees,  the  country  slightly  undulating,  and  grass  abundant. 
A  little  before  the  sun  went  down  my  driver  remarked  to 
me,  "  I  was  just  going  to  say,  sir,  that  that  old  tree  was  a 
camelopard."  On  looking  where  he  pointed,  I  saw  that  the 
old  tree  was  indeed  a  camelopard;  and,  on  casting  my  eyes 
a  little  to  the  right,  I  beheld  a  troop  of  them  standing 
looking  at  us,  their  heads  actually  towering  above  the  trees 
of  the  forest.  It  was  imprudent  to  commence  a  chase  at 
such  a  late  hour,  especially  in  a  country  of  so  level  a 


564  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

character,  where  the  chances  were  ;  against  my  being  able 
to  regain  my  wagons  that  night.  I,  however,  resolved  to 
chance  everything ;  and  directing  my  men  to  catch  and 
saddle  Colesburg,  I  proceeded  in  haste  to  buckle  on  my 
shooting-belt  and  spurs,  and  in  two  minutes  I  was  in  the 
saddle.  The  giraffes  stood  looking  at  the  wagons  until  I 
was  within  sixty  yards  of  them,  when,  galloping  round  a 
thick  bushy  tree,  under  cover  of  which  I  had  ridden,  I 
suddenly  beheld  a  sight  the  most  astounding  that  a  sports- 
man's eye  can  encounter.  Before  me  stood  a  troop  of  ten 
colossal  giraffes,  the  majority  of  which  were  from  seventeen 
to  eighteen  feet  high.  On  beholding  me  they  at  once  made 
off,  twisting  their  long  tails  over  their  backs,  making  a  loud, 
switching  noise  with  them,  and  cantered  along  at  an  easy 
pace,  which,  however,  obliged  Colesburg  to  put  his  best  foot 
foremost  to  keep  up  with  them. 

The  sensations  which  I  felt  on  this  occasion  were  different 
from  anything  that  I  had  before  experienced,  during  a  long 
sporting  career.  My  senses  were  so  absorbed  by  the  won- 
drous and  beautiful  sight  before  me,  that  I  rode  along  like 
one  entranced,  and  I  felt  inclined  to  disbelieve  that  I  was 
hunting  living  things  of  this  world.  The  ground  was  firm 
and  favorable  for  riding.  At  every  stride  I  gained  upon  the 
giraffes,  and  after  a  short  burst  at  a  swinging  gallop  I  was 
in  the  middle  of  them,  and  turned  the  finest  cow  out  of  the 
herd.  On  finding  herself  driven  from  her  comrades  and 
hotly  pursued,  she  increased  her  pace,  and  cantered  along 
with  tremendous  strides,  clearing  an  amazing  extent  of 
ground  at  every  bound ;  while  her  neck  and  breast  coming 
\n  contact  with  the  dead  old  branches  of  the  trees,  were  con- 
tinually strewing  them  in  my  path.  In  a  few  minutes  I  was 
riding  within  five  feet  of  her  stern,  and,  firing  at  a  gallop, 
I  sent  a  bullet  into  her  back.  Increasing  my  pace,  I  next 
rode  alongside,  and,  placing  the  muzzle  of  my  rifle  within  a 
few  feet  of  her,  I  fired  my  second  shot  behind  the  shoulder ; 


THE   FIRST    GIRAFFE   HUNT.  365 

the  ball,  however,  seemed  to  have  little  effect.  I  then  placed 
myself  directly  in  front,  when  she  came  to  a  walk.  Dis- 
mounting, I  hastily  loaded  both  barrels,  putting  in  double- 
charges  of  powder.  Before  this  was  accomplished  she  was 
off  at  a  canter.  In  a  short  time  I  brought  her  to  a  stand 
in  the  dry  bed  of  a  water-course,  where  I  fired  at  fifteen 
yards,  aiming  where  I  thought  the  heart  lay,  upon  which  she 
again  made  off.  Having  loaded,  I  followed,  and  had  very 
nearly  lost  her;  she  had  turned  abruptly  to  the  left,  and 
was  far  out  of  sight  among  the  trees.  Onee  more  I  brought 
her  to  a  stand,  and  dismounted  from  my  horse.  There  we 
stood  together  alone  in  the  wild  wood.  I  gazed  in  wonder 
at  her  extreme  beauty,  while  her  soft,  dark  eye,  with  its 
silky  fringe,  looked  down  imploringly  at  me,  and  I  really  felt 
a  pang  of  sorrow  in  this  moment  of  triumph  for  the  blood  I 
was  shedding.  Pointing  my  rifle  toward  the  skies,  I  sent  a 
bullet  through  her  neck.  On  receiving  it,  she  reared  high 
on  her  hind  legs,  and  fell  backward  with  a  heavy  crash, 
making  the  earth  shake  around  her.  A  thick  stream  of  dark 
blood  spouted  out  from  the  wound,  her  colossal  limbs  quivered 
for  a  moment,  and  she  expired. 

I  had  little  time  to  contemplate  the  prize  I  had  won. 
Night  was  fast  setting  in,  and  it  was  very  questionable  if 
I  should  succeed  in  regaining  my  wagons ;  so,  having  cut 
off  the  tail  of  the  giraffe,  which  was  adorned  with  a  bushy 
tuft  of  flowing  black  hair,  I  took  "one  last  fond  look,"  and 
rode  hard  for  the  spoor  of  the  wagons,  which  I  succeeded  in 
reaching  just  as  it  was  dark. 

No  pen  nor  words  can  convey  to  a  sportsman  what  it  is  to 
ride  in  the  midst  of  a  troop  of  gigantic  giraffes :  it  must  be 
experienced  to  be  understood.  They  emitted  a  powerful 
perfume,  which  in  the  chase  came  hot  in  my  face,  reminding 
me  of  the  smell  of  a  hive  of  heather  honey  in  September. 
The  greater  part  of  this  chase  led  through  bushes  of  the 
wait-a-bit  thorn  of  the  most  virulent  description,  which 


566  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

covered  my  legs  and  arms  with  blood  long  before  I  had  killed 
the  giraffe.  I  rode  as  usual  in  the  kilt,  with  my  arms  bare 
to  my  shoulder.  It  was  Chapelpark  of  Badenoch's  old  gray 
kilt,  but  in  this  chase  it  received  a  death  blow  which  it  never 
afterwards  recovered. 

Now  comes  Harris's  story — and  between  them  we  shall  get 
a  pretty  clear  idea  of  the  sensation  of  killing  the  first  giraffe. 
He  says : 

To  the  sportsman,  the  most  thrilling  passage  in  my  adven- 
tures is  now  to  be  recounted.  In  my  own  breast,  it  awakens 
a  renewal  of  past  impressions,  more  lively  than  any  written 
description  can  render  intelligible ;  and  far  abler  pens  than 
mine,  dipped  in  more  glowing  tints,  would  still  fall  short  of 
the  reality,  and  leave  much  to  be  supplied  by  the  imagination. 
Three  hundred  gigantic  elephants,  browsing  in  majestic  tran- 
quillity amidst  the  wild  magnificence  of  an  African  landscape, 
and  a  wide  stretching  plain,  darkened,  far  as  the  eye  can 
reach,  with  a  moving  phalanx  of  gnoos  and  quaggas,  whose 
numbers  literally  baffle  computation,  are  sights  but  rarely  to 
be  witnessed;  but  who  amongst  our  brother  Nimrods  shall 
hear  of  riding  familiarly  by  the  side  of  a  troop  of  colossal 
giraffes,  and  not  feel  his  spirit  stirred  within  him  ?  He  that 
would  behold  so  marvellous  a  sight  must  leave  the  haunts  of 
man,  and  dive,  as  we  did,  into  pathless  wilds,  traversed  only 
by  the  brute  creation — into  wide  wastes,  where  the  grim  lion 
prowls,  monarch  of  all  he  surveys,  and  where  the  gaunt  hyaena 
and  wild  dog  fearlessly  pursue  their  prey. 

Many  days  had  now  elapsed  since  we  had  even  seen  the 
camelopard — and  then  only  in  small  numbers,  and  under  the 
most  unfavorable  circumstances.  The  blood  coursed  through 
my  veins  like  quicksilver ;  therefore,  as  on  the  morning  of  the 
10th,  from  the  back  of  Breslar,  my  most  trusty  steed,  with  a 
firm  wooded  plain  before  me,  I  counted  thirty-two  of  these 
animals,  industriously  stretching  their  peacock  necks  to  crop 
the  tiny  leaves  which  fluttered  above  their  heads,  in  a  mimosa 


THE  FIRST   GIRAFFE   HUNT.  567 

grove  that  beautified  the  scenery.  They  were  within  a  hun- 
dred yards  of  me,  but  having  previously  determined  to  try 
the  boarding  system,  I  reserved  my  fire.  Although  I  had 
taken  the  field  expressly  to  look  for  giraffes,  and  had  put 
four  of  the  Hottentots  on  horseback,  all  excepting  Piet  had 
as  usual  slipped  off  unperceived  in  pursuit  of  a  troop  of 
koodoos.  Our  stealthy  approach  was  soon  opposed  by  an 
ill-tempered  rhinoceros,  which,  with  her  ugly  calf,  stood 
directly  in  the  path ;  and  the  twinkling  of  her  bright  little 
eyes,  accompanied  by  a  restless  rolling  of  the  body,  giving 
earnest  of  her  intention  to  charge,  I  directed  Piet  to  salute 
her  with  a  broadside,  at  the  same  moment  putting  spurs  to 
my  horse.  At  the  report  of  the  gun,  and  the  sudden  clatter- 
ing of  hoofs,  away  bounded  the  giraffes  in  grotesque  confusion, 
clearing  the  ground  by  a  succession  of  frog-like  hops,  and 
soon  leaving  me  far  in  the  rear.  Twice  were  their  towering 
forms  concealed  from  view  by  a  park  of  trees,  which  we 
entered  almost  at  the  same  instant ;  and  twice,  on  emerging 
from  the  labyrinth,  did  I  perceive  them  tilting  over  an 
eminence  immeasurably  in  advajice.  A  white  turban,  that 
I  wore  round  my  hunting  cap,  being  dragged  off  by  a 
projecting  bough,  was  instantly  charged  by  three  rhinoce- 
roses ;  and  looking  over  my  shoulder,  I  could  see  them  long 
afterwards  fagging  themselves  to  overtake  me.  In  the  course 
of  five  minutes,  the  fugitives  arrived  at  a  small  river,  the 
treacherous  sands  of  which  receiving  their  long  legs,  their 
flight  was  greatly  retarded ;  and  after  floundering  to  the 
opposite  side,  and  scrambling  to  the  top  of  the  bank,  I 
perceived  that  their  race  was  run.  Patting  the  streaming 
neck  of  my  good  steed,  I  urged  him  again  to  his  utmost,  and 
instantly  found  myself  by  the  side  of  the  herd.  The  stately 
bull,  being  readily  distinguishable  from  the  rest  by  his  dark 
chestnut  robe,  and  superior  stature,  I  applied  the  muzzle  of 
my  rifle  behind  his  dappled  shoulder,  with  the  right  hand, 
and  drew  both  triggers;  but  he  still  continued  to  shufflo 


568  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

along,  and  being  afraid  of  losing  him,  should  I  dismount, 
among  the  extensive  mimosa  groves,  with  which  the  land- 
scape was  now  obscured,  I  sat  in  my  saddle,  loading  and 
firing  behind  the  elbow,  and  then  placing  myself  across  his 
path,  until,  the  tears  trickling  from  his  full  brilliant  eye,  his 
lofty  frame  began  to  totter,  and  at  the  seventeenth  discharge 
fiom  the  deadly  grooved  bore,  bowing  his  graceful  head  from 
the  skies,  his  proud  form  was  prostrate  in  the  dust.  Never 
shall  I  forget  the  tingling  excitement  of  that  moment !  Alone, 
in  the  wild  wood,  I  hurraed  with  bursting  exultation,  and 
unsaddling  my  steed,  sank  exhausted  beside  the  noble  prize  I 
had  won. 

When  I  leisurely  contemplated  the  massive  frame  before 
me,  seeming  as  though  it  had  been  cast  in  a  mould  of  brass, 
and  protected  by  a  hide  of  an  inch  and  a  half  in  thickness, 
it  was  no  longer  matter  of  astonishment,  that  a  bullet  dis- 
charged from  a  distance  of  eighty  or  ninety  yards,  should 
have  been  attended  with  little  effect  upon  such  amazing 
strength.  The  extreme  height  from  the  crown  of  the 
elegantly  moulded  head  to  the  hoof  of  this  magnificent 
animal,  was  eighteen  feet ;  the  whole  being  equally  divided 
into  neck,  body,  and  leg.  Two  hours  were  passed  in  com- 
pleting a  drawing ;  arid  Piet  still  not  making  his  appearance, 
I  cut  off  the  tail,  which  exceeded  five  feet  in  length,  and  was 
rneasurelessly  the  most  estimable  trophy  I  had  gained ;  but 
proceeding  to  saddle  my  horse,  which  I  had  left  quietly 
grazing  by  the  side  of  a  running  brook,  my  chagrin  may  be 
conceived,  when  I  discovered  that  he  had  taken  advantage 
of  my  occupation  to  free  himself  from  his  halter,  and  abscond. 
Being  ten  miles  from  the  wagons,  and  in  a  perfectly  strange 
country,  I  felt  convinced  that  the  only  chance  of  recovering 
my  pet,  was  by  following  the  trail,  whilst  doing  which  with 
infinite  difficulty,  the  ground  scarcely  deigning  to  receive  a 
foot-print,  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  meeting  Piet  and  Moliany- 
«om,  who  had  fortunately  seen  and  recaptured  the  truant 


THE  FIRST   GIKAFFE  HUNT.  569 

Heturnlng  to  the  giraffe,  we  all  feasted  heartily  upon  the 
flesh,  which,  although  highly  scented  at  this  season  with  the 
rank  mokaala  blossoms,  was  far  from  despicable ;  and  after 
losing  our  way  in  consequence  of  the  twin-like  resemblance 
of  two  scarped  hills,  we  regained  the  wagons  after  sunset. 

The  spell  was  now  broken,  and  the  secret  of  cameleopard 
hunting  discovered.  The  next  day  Richardson  and  myself 
killed  three ;  one  a  female,  slipping  upon  muddy  ground,  and 
falling  with  great  violence,  before  she  had  been  wounded,  a 
shot  in  the  head  dispatched  her  as  she  lay.  From  this  time 
we  could  reckon  confidently  upon  two  out  of  each  troop  that 
we  Avere  fortunate  enough  to  find,  always  approaching  as 
near  as  possible,  in  order  to  insure  a  good  start,  galloping 
into  the  middle  of  them,  boarding  the  largest,  and  riding 
with  him  until  he  fell.  The  rapidity  with  which  these  awk- 
wardly formed  animals  can  move,  is  beyond  all  things 
surprising,  our  best  horses  being  unable  to  close  with  them 
under  two  miles.  Their  gallop  is  a  succession  of  jumping 
strides,  the  fore  and  hind  leg  on  the  same  side  moving 
together  instead  of  diagonally,  as  in  most  other  quadrupeds, 
the  former  being  kept  close  together,  and  the  latter  so  wide 
apart,  that  in  riding  by  the  animal's  side,  the  hoof  may  be 
seen  striking  on  the  outside  of  the  horse,  momentarily  threat- 
ening to  overthrow  him.  Their  motion,  altogether,  reminded 
me  rather  of  the  pitching  of  a  ship,  or  rolling  of  a  rocking- 
horse,  than  of  any  thing  living ;  and  the  remarkable  gait  is 
rendered  still  more  automaton-like,  by  the  switching,  at 
regular  intervals,  of  the  long  black  tail,  which  is  invariably 
curled  above  the  back,  and  by  the  corresponding  action  of 
the  neck,  swinging  as  it  does,  like  a  pendulum,  and  literally 
imparting  to  the  animal  the  appearance  of  a  huge  piece  of 
machinery  in  motion.  Naturally  gentle,  timid  and  peaceable, 
the  unfortunate  giraffe  has  no  means  of  protecting  itself  but 
with  its  heels ;  but  even  when  hemmed  into  a  corner,  ic 
seldom  resorted  to  this  mode  of  defence.  I  have  beforu 


570  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

noticed  the  courage  evinced  by  our  horses,  in  the  pursuit  of 
game.  Even  when  brought  into  actual  contact  with  these 
almost  unearthly  quadrupeds,  they  evinced  no  symptom  of 
alarm,  a  circumstance  which  may  possibly  be  traced  to  their 
meagre  diet. 

The  colossal  height,  and  apparent  disproportions  of  this 
extraordinary  animal,  long  classed  it  with  the  unicorn  and 
the  sphynx  of  the  ancients,  and  induced  a  belief  that  it 
belonged  rather  to  the  group  of  chimeras  with  which  the 
regions  of  imagination  are  tenanted,  than  existed  amongst 
the  actual  works  of  nature.  Of  its  form  and  habits,  no  very 
precise  notions  were  obtained  until  within  the  last  forty  years ; 
and  even  now,  the  extant  delineations  are  far  from  the  truth, 
having  been  taken  from  crippled  prisoners  instead  of  from 
specimens  free  in  their  native  deserts.  The  giraffe  is  by  no 
means  a  common  animal,  even  at  its  headquarters.  We 
seldom  found  them  without  having  followed  the  -trail,  and 
never  saw  more  than  five-and-thirty  in  a  day.  A  traveller 
whom  I  met  in  the  Cape  Colony,  assured  me,  before  I  visited 
the  interior,  that  he  had  himself  counted  eight  hundred 
giraffes  in  a  single  day ;  and  during  his  travels,  had  ridden 
down  hundreds.  On  my  return,  however,  after  a  little  cross- 
examination,  the  number  destroyed  dwindled  gradually  down 
to  one;  which  solitary  individual  appeared,  upon  further 
investigation,  to  have  been  been  taken  in  a  pitfall !  The 
senses  of  sight,  hearing  and  smell,  are  acute  and  delicate  ; 
the  eyes,  which  are  soft  and  gentle,  eclipsing  those  of  the 
oft-sung  gazelle  of  the  East,  and  being  so  constructed  that, 
without  turning  the  head,  the  animal  can  see  both  before  and 
behind  it  at  the  same  time.  On  the  forehead  there  is  a 
remarkable  prominence  ;  and  the  tongue  has  the  power  of 
mobility  increased  to  an  extraordinary  degree,  accompanied 
with  the  faculty  of  extension,  which  enables  it,  in  miniature, 
to  perform  the  office  of  the  elephant's  proboscis.  The  lofty 
mancd  neck,  possessing  only  seven  joints,  appears  to  move 


THE   FIRST   GIRAFFE   HUNT.  571 

on  a  pivot,  instead  of  being  flexible  like  that  of  the  swan  or 
peacock,  to  which,  from  its  length,  it  has  been  likened. 

The  giraffe  utters  no  cry  whatever.  Both  sexes  have 
horns,  covered  with  hair,  and  are  similarly  marked  with 
an  angular  and  somewhat  symmetrical  pattern.  The  male 
increases  in  depth  of  color  according  to  the  age,  and  in  some 
specimens  is  nearly  black ;  but  the  female  is  smaller  in 
stature,  and  of  a  lighter  color,  approaching  to  yellow. 
Although  very  extensive,  the  range  of  its  habitat  is  exclu- 
sively confined  to  those  regions  in  which  the  species  of 
mimosa  termed  mokaala,  or  kameel-doorn,  is  a6undarit,  the 
leaves,  shoots,  and  blossoms  of  that  tree  being  its  ordinary 
food. 

On  the  22d,  being  encamped  on  the  banks  of  a  small 
stream,  a  cameleopard  was  killed  by  a  lion,  whilst  in  the 
act  of  drinking,  at  no  great  distance  from  the  wagons.  It 
was  a  noisy  affair,  but  an  inspection  of  the  scene  on  which 
it  occurred,  proved  that  the  giant  strength  of  the  victim  had 
been  paralyzed  in  an  instant.  Authors  have  asserted  that 
the  king  of  beasts  is  some.times  carried  fifteen  or  twenty 
miles,  "riding  proudly"  on  the  back  of  the  giraffe;  but 
notwithstanding  the  amazing  and  acknowledged  power  of  this 
superb  animal,  I  am  greatly  disposed  to  question  his  ability 
to  maintain  so  long  a  race  under  such  merciless  jockeyship ! 

Sensations  very  well  described — capitally,  indeed  ! — only 
it  is  surprising  how  much  alike  "First  Giraffe  Hunts"  must 
be,  since  such  a  remarkable  coincidence  of  feeling  expe- 
rienced, and  of  the  action  described,  should  have  occurred 
in  these  two  thus,  performed  by  different  persons,  at  an 
interval  of  ten  years.  The  fact  of  their  being  so  much 
alike,  may  console  those  of  us  in  this  prosy  real  world  who 
may  chance  to  be  emulous  of  a  Giraffe  Hunt. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

SOUTH  AFRICAN   LIONS. 

Now  for  the  lordly  King  of  Beasts  !  As  these  wild  African 
Hunters  found  him,  the  grandeur  of  his  ancestral  name  is 
not  a  little  heightened.  There  are  some  pictures  of  this 
South  African  monarch  of  the  wastes  furnished  as  well  by 
the  daring  missionaries  of  the  Christian  Church  in  this 
direction,  which  are  quite  as  striking  as  those  given  by  the 
professional  Hunters  themselves.  These  we  shall  give  after 
first  taking  the  general  sketch  of  the  habits  of  the  animal 
furnished  by  Gumming. 

The  night  of  the  19th  was  to  me  rather  a  memorable  one, 
as  being  the  first  on  which  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  hearing 
the  deep-toned  thunder  of  the  lion's  roar.  Although  there 
was  no  one  near  to  inform  me'  by  what  beast  the  haughty 
and  impressive  sounds  which  echoed  through  the  wilderness 
were  produced,  I  had  little  difficulty  in  divining.  There  was 
no  mistake  about  it ;  and  on  hearing  it  I  at  once  knew,  as 
well  as  if  accustomed  to  the  sound  from  my  infancy,  that 
the  appalling  roar  which  was  uttered  within  half  a  mile 
of  me  was  no  other  than  that  of  the  mighty  and  terrible 
king  of  beasts.  Although  the  dignified  and  truly  monarch- 
ical appearance  of  the  lion  has  long  rendered  him  famous 
among  his  fellow  quadrupeds,  and  his  appearance  and  habits 
have  often  been  described  by  abler  pens  than  mine,  never- 
theless I  consider  that  a  few  remarks,  resulting  from  my 
own  personal  experience,  formed  by  a  tolerably  long  acquaint- 
ance with  them  both  by  day  and  by  night,  may  not  prove 
uninteresting  to  the  reader.  There  is  something  so  noble 

572 


ADVENTURES   WITH   LIONS.  573 

and  imposing  in  the  presence  of  the  lion,  when  seen  walking 
with  dignified  self-possession,  free  and  undaunted,  on  hia 
native  soil,  that  no  description  can  convey  an  adequate  idea 
of  his  striking  appearance.  The  lion  is  exquisitely  formed 
by  nature  for  the  predatory  habits  which  he  is  destined  to 
pursue.  Combining  in  comparatively  small  compass  the 
qualities  of  power  and  agility,  he  is  enabled,  by  means  of 
the  tremendous  machinery  with  which  nature  has  gifted 
him,  easily  to  overcome  and  destroy  almost  every  beast  of 
the  forest,  however  superior  to  him  in  weight  and  stature. 

Though  considerably  under  four  feet  in  height,  he  has 
little  difficulty  in  dashing  to  the  ground  and  overcoming  the 
lofty  and  apparently  powerful  giraffe,  whose  head  towers  above 
the  trees  of  the  forest,  and  whose  skin  is  nearly  an  inch  in 
thickness.  The  lion  is  the  constant  attendant  of  the  vast 
herds  of  buffaloes  which  frequent  the  interminable  forests  of 
the  interior ;  and  a  full-grown  one,  so  long  as  his  teeth  are 
unbroken,  generally  proves  a  match  for  an  old  bull  buffalo, 
which  in  size  and  strength  greatly  surpasses  the  most 
powerful  breed  of  English  cattle :  the  lion  also  preys  on  all 
the  larger  varieties  of  the  antelopes,  and  on  both  varieties 
of  the  gnu.  The  zebra,  which  is  met  with  in  large  herds 
throughout  the  interior,  is  also  a  favorite  object  of  his  puisuit. 

Lions  do  not  refuse,  as  has  been  asserted,  to  feast  upon 
the  venison  that  they  have  not  killed  themselves.  I  have 
repeatedly  discovered  lions  of  all  ages  which  had  taken 
possession  of,  and  were  feasting  upon,  the  carcasses  of 
various  game  quadrupeds  which  had  fallen  before  my  rifle. 
The  lion  is  very  generally  diffused  throughout  the  secluded 
parts  of  Southern  Africa.  lie  is,  however,  nowhere  met 
with  in  great  abundance,  it  being  very  rare  to  find  more 
than  three,  or  even  two,  families  of  lions  frequenting  the 
same  district  and  drinking  at  the  same  fountain.  When  a 
greater  number  were  met  with,  I  remarked  it  was  owing  to 
long-protracted  droughts,  which,  by  drying  nearly  all  the 


574  WILD   SCENES  AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

fountains,  had  compelled  the  game  of  various  districts  to 
crowd  the  remaining  springs,  and  the  lions,  according  to  their 
custom,  followed  in  the  wake.  It  is  a  common  thing  to  come 
upon  a  full-grown  lion  and  lioness  associating  with  three  or 
four  large  ones  nearly  full-grown ;  at  other  times,  full-growr. 
males  will  be  found  associating  and  hunting  together  in  a 
happy  state  of  friendship;  two,  three,  and  four  full-grown 
male  lions  may  thus  be  discovered  consorting  together. 

The  male  lion  is  adorned  with  a  long,  rank,  shaggy  mane, 
which  in  some  instances  almost  sweeps  the  ground.  The 
color  of  these  manes  varies,  some  being  very  dark,  and 
others  of  a  golden  yellow.  This  appearance  has  given  rise 
to  a  prevailing  opinion  among  the  Boers  that  there  are  two 
distinct  varieties  of  lions,  which  they  distinguish  by  the 
respective  names  of  "  Schwart  fore  life"  and  "  Chiel  fore 
life;"  this  idea,  however,  is  erroneons.  The  color  of  the 
lion's  mane  is  generally  influenced  by  his  age.  He  attains  his 
mane  in  the  third  year  of  his  existence.  I  have  remarked 
that  at  first  it  is  of  a  yellowish  color ;  in  the  prime  of  life  it  is 
blackest,  and  when  he  has  numbered  many  years,  but  still 
is  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  his  power,  it  assumes  a  yellowish- 
gray,  pepper-and-salt  sort  of  color.  These  old  fellows  are 
cunning  and  dangerous,  and  most  to  be  dreaded.  The 
females  are  utterly  destitute  of  a  mane,  being  covered  with 
a  short,  thick,  glossy  coat  of  tawny  hair.  The  manes  and 
coats  of  lions  frequenting  open-lying  districts  utterly  destitute 
of  trees,  such  as  the  borders  of  the  great  Kalahari  desert, 
are  more  rank  and  handsome  than  those  inhabiting  forest 
districts. 

One  of  the  most  striking  things  connected  with  the  lion 
is  his  voice,  which  is  extremely  grand  and  peculiarly 
striking.  It  consists  at  times  of  a  low,  deep  moaning, 
repeated  five  or  six  times,  ending  in  faintly  audible  sighs  ; 
at  other  times  he  startles  the  forest  with  loud,  deep-toned, 
solemn  roars,  repeated  five  or  six  times  in  quick  succession, 


ADVENTURES   WITH   LIONS.  575 

each  increasing  in  loudness  to  the  third  or  fourth,  when  his 
voice  dies  away  in  five  or  six  low,  muffled  sounds,  very  much 
resembling  distant  thunder.  At  times,  and  not  unfrequently, 
a  troop  may  be  heard  roaring  in  concert,  one  assuming  the 
lead,  and  two,  three,  or  four  more  regularly  taking  up  their 
parts,  like  persons  singing  a  catch.  Like  our  Scottish  stags 
at  the  rutting  season,  they  roar  loudest  in  cold,  frosty 
nights ;  but  on  no  occasions  are  their  voices  to  be  heard 
in  such  perfection,  or  so  intensely  powerful,  as  when  two  or 
three  strange  troops  of  lions  approach  a  fountain  to  drink  at 
the  same  time.  When  this  occurs,  every  member  of  each 
troop  sounds  a  bold  roar  of  defiance  at  the  opposite  parties ; 
and  when  one  roars,  all  roar  together,  and  each  seems  to 
vie  with  his  comrade  in  the  intensity  and  power  of  his  voice. 
The  power  and  grandeur  of  these  nocturnal  forest  concerts 
is  inconceivably  striking  and  pleasing  to  the  hunter's  ear. 
The  effect,  I  may  remark,  is  greatly  enhanced  when  the 
hearer  happens  to  be  situated  in  the  depths  of  the  forest, 
at  the  dead  hour  of  midnight,  unaccompanied  by  any  attend- 
ant, and  ensconced  within  twenty  yards  of  the  fountain 
Vfhich  the  surrounding  troops  of  lions  are  approaching.  Such 
has  been  my  situation  many  scores  of  times ;  and  though  I 
am  allowed  to  have  a  tolerable  good  taste  for  music,  I 
consider  the  catches  with  which  I  was  then  regaled  as  the 
sweetest  and  most  natural  I  ever  heard. 

As  a  general  rule,  lions  roar  during  the  night ;  their 
sighing  moans  commencing  as  the  shades  of  evening  envelop 
the  forest,  and  continuing  at  intervals  throughout  the  night. 
In  distant  and  secluded  regions,  however,  I  have  constantly 
heard  them  roaring  loudly  as  late  as  nine  and  ten  o'clock  on 
a  bright  sunny  morning.  In  hazy  and  rainy  weather  they 
are  to  be  heard  at  every  hour  in  the  day,  but  their  roar  is 
subdued.  It  often  happens  that  when  two  strange  male 
lions  meet  at  a  fountain  a  terrific  combat  ensues,  which  not 
unfrequently  ends  in  the  death  of  one  of  them.  The  habits 


576  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

of  the  lion  are  strictly  nocturnal;  during  the  day  he  lies 
concealed  beneath  the  shade  of  some  low,  bushy  tree  or  wide- 
spreading  bush,  either  in  the  level  forest  or  on  the  mountain 
side.  He  is  also  partial  to  lofty  reeds,  or  fields  of  long, 
yellow  grass,  such  as  occur  in  low-lying  vleys.  From  these 
haunts  he  sallies  forth  when  the  sun  goes  down,  and  com- 
mences his  nightly  prowl.  When  he  is  successful  in  his 
beat  and  has  secured  his  prey,  he  does  not  roar  much  that 
night,  only  uttering  occasionally  a  few  low  moans ;  that  is, 
provided  no  intruders  approach  him,  otherwise  the  case  would 
be  very  different. 

Lions  are  ever  most  active,  daring  and  presuming  in  dark 
and  stormy  nights,  and  consequently,  on  such  occasions,  the 
traveller  ought  more  particularly  to  be  on  his  guard.  I 
remarked  a  fact  connected  with  the  lion's  hour  of  drinking 
peculiar  to  themselves ;  they  seemed  unwilling  to  visit  the 
fountains  with  good  moonlight.  Thus,  when  the  moon  rose 
early,  the  lions  deferred  their  hour  of  watering  until  late  in 
the  morning ;  and  when  the  moon  rose  late,  they  drank  at 
a  very  early  hour  in  the  night.  By  this  acute  system  many 
a  grisly  lion  saved  his  bacon,  and  is  now  luxuriating  in  the 
forest  of  South  Africa,  which  had  otherwise  fallen  by  the 
barrels  of  my  "  Westley  Richards."  Owing  to  the  tawny 
color  of  the  coat  with  which  nature  has  robed  him,  he  is 
perfectly  invisible  in  the  dark ;  and  although  I  have  often 
heard  them  loudly  lapping  the  water  under  my  very  nose, 
not  twenty  yards  from  me,  I  could  not  possibly  make  out  so 
much  as  the  outline  of  their  forms.  When  a  thirsty  lion 
comes  to  water,  he  stretches  out  his  massive  arms,  lies  down 
on  his  breast  to  drink,  and  makes  a  loud,  lapping  noise  in 
drinking  not  to  be  mistaken.  lie  continues  lapping  up  the 
water  for  a  long  while,  and  four  or  five  times  during  the 
proceeding  he  pauses  for  half  a  minute  as  if  to  take  breath. 
One  thing  conspicuous  about  them  is  their  eyes,  which,  in  a 
dark  night,  glow  like  two  balls  of  fire.  The  female  is  more 


ADVENTURES   WITH   LIONS.  5  <  i 

fierce  and  active  than  the  male,  as  a  general  rule.     Lionesses 
•which  have  never  had  young  are  much  more  dangerous  than 
those  which  have.     At  no  time  is  the  lion  so  much  to  be 
dreaded  as  when  his  partner  has  got  small  young  ones.     At 
that  season  he  knows  no  fear,  and,  in  the  coolest  and  most 
intrepid  manner,  he  will  face  a  thousand  men.     A  remarkable 
instance  of  this  kind  came  under  my  own  observation,  which 
confirmed  the  reports  I  had  before  heard  from  the  nati/es. 
One  day,  when  out  elephant-hunting  in  the  territory  of  the 
"Baseleka,"  accompanied  by  two  hundred  and  fifty  men,  I 
was  astonished  suddenly  to  behold  a  majestic  lion  slowly  and 
steadily   advancing    toward    us    with    a    dignified    step    and 
undaunted  bearing,  the  most  noble   and  imposing  that  can 
be  conceived.     Lashing  his  tail  from  side  to  side,  and  growl- 
ing haughtily,  his    terribly  expressive  eye  resolutely  fixed 
upon  us,  and  displaying  a  show  of  ivory  well  calculated  to 
inspire  terror  among  the  timid  "Bechuanas,"  he  approached. 
A  headlong  flight  of  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  was  the 
immediate  result ;  and,  in  the  confusion  of  the  moment,  four 
couples    of  my  dogs,  which  they  had   been   leading,  were 
allowed  to  escape  in  their  couples.     These  instantly  faced 
the   lion,  who,   finding    that  by  his   bold   bearing    he   had 
succeeded   in   putting    his    enemies    to   flight,   now   became 
solicitous  for  the  safety  of  his  little  family,  with  which  the 
lioness  was  retreating  in  the  back-ground.      Facing   about, 
he    followed    after   them  with    a   haughty  and   independent 
step,  growling   fiercely  at  the  dogs  which  trotted  along  on 
either  side  of  him.     Three  troops  of  elephants  having  been 
discovered    a   few  minutes    previous  to  this,  upon  which    I 
was    marching  for  the   attack,    I,   with   the  most    heartfelt 
reluctance,  reserved  my  fire.     On  running  down  the  hill  side 
to  endeavor  to  recall  my  dogs,  I  observed,  for  the  first  time, 
the  retreating  lioness  with  four  cubs.     About  twenty  minutes 
afterwards  two  noble  elephants  repaid  my  forbearance. 

Among  Indian  Nimrods,  a  certain  class  of  royal  tigers 

37 


578  "WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

is  dignified  with  the  appellation  of  "man-eaters."  These 
are  tigers  which,  having  once  tasted  human  flesh,  show  a 
predilection  for  the  same,  and  such  characters  are  very 
naturally  famed  and  dreaded  among  the  natives.  Elderly 
gentlemen  of  similar  tastes  and  habits  are  occasionally  met 
with  among  the  lions  in  the  interior  of  South  Africa,  and 
the  danger  of  such  neighbors  may  be  easily  imagined.  I 
account  for  lions  first  acquiring  this  taste  in  the  following 
manner :  the  Bechuana  tribes  of  the  far  interior  do  not  bury 
their  dead,  but  unceremoniously  carry  them  forth,  and  leave 
them  lying  exposed  in  the  forest  or  on  the  plain,  a  prey  to 
the  lion  and  hyaena,  or  the  jackal  and  vulture ;  and  I  can 
readily  imagine  that  a  lion,  having  thus  once  tasted  human 
flesh,  would  have  little  hesitation,  when  opportunity  presented 
itself,  of  springing  upon  and  carrying  off  the  unwary  traveller 
or  "  Bechuana"  inhabiting  his  country.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
man-eaters  occur ;  and  on  my  fourth  hunting  expedition,  a 
horrible  tragedy  was  acted  one  dark  night  in  my  little  lonely 
camp  by  one  of  these  formidable  characters,  which  deprived 
me,  in  the  far  wilderness,  of  my  most  valuable  servant.  In 
winding  up  these  few  observations  on  the  lion,  which  I  trust 
will  not  have  been  tiresome  to  the  reader,  I  may  remark 
that  lion-hunting,  under  any  circumstances,  is  decidedly  a 
dangerous  pursuit.  It  may  nevertheless  be  followed,  to  a 
certain  extent,  with  comparative  safety  by  those  who  have 
naturally  a  turn  for  that  sort  of  thing.  A  recklessness  of 
death,  perfect  coolness  and  self-possession,  an  acquaintance 
with  the  disposition  and  manners  of  lions,  and  a  tolerable 
knowledge  of  the  use  of  the  rifle,  are  indispensable  to  him 
who  would  shine  in  the  overpoweringly  exciting  pastime  of 
hunting  this  justly  celebrated  king  of  beasts. 

It  would  be  a  pity,  if,  amidst  his  other  lauded  character- 
istics, the  Hoc  should  not  be  quite  as  remarkable  for  manners 
as  magnanimity.  Moffat,  the  daring  agent  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society  in  South  Africa,  who  for  twenty-three 


ADVENTURES  WITH   LIONS.  579 

years  was  exposed  to  all  the  perils  of  general  resident,  and 
travelling  supervision,  of  the  Society  operations  in  that  wild 
region,  has  given  many  striking  and  memorable  anecdotes 
of  the  lion,  which  are  worth  comparison  with  the  rabidly 
egotistical  narratives  of  Gumming,  &c.  We  quote  one,  in 
his  own  language,  of  the  authenticity  of  which  there  can  be 
no  reasonable  doubt — at  least  it  stands  upon  quite  as  broad  a 
basis  of  authenticity  as  any  thing  in  that  species  of  literature. 
Conversing  with  the  party  one  evening,  when  sitting  around 
the  fire,  on  the  conduct  of  children  to  their  parents,  I  observed 
that  they  were  as  bad  as  lions.  "  They  are  worse,"  replied 
Africaner.  This  he  illustrated  from  the  well-known  charac- 
teristics of  the  king  of  beasts ;  or,  more  properly,  king  of  the 
beasts  of  prey.  Much  has  been  written  about  African  lions, 
but  the  half  has  not  been  told.  The  following  trait  in  their 
character  may  not  be  intrusive,  or  partaking  of  the  marvelous, 
with  which  the  tales  of  some  travellers  are  said  to  abound.  I 
give  it  as  received  from  men  of  God,  and  men  who  had  been 
experienced  Nimrods,  too.  The  old  lion,  when  in  company 
with  his  children  as  the  natives  call  them,  though  they  are 
nearly  as  big  as  himself;  or,  when  numbers  together  happen 
to  come  upon  game,  the  oldest  or  ablest  creeps  to  the  object, 
while  the  others  crouch  on  the  grass ;  if  he  be  successful, 
which  he  generally  is,  he  retires  from  his  victim,  and  lies 
down  to  breathe  and  rest,  for  perhaps  a  quarter  of  an  hour ; 
in  the  meantime,  the  others  draw  around,  and  lie  down  at  a 
respectful  distance.  When  the  chief  one  has  got  his  rest,  he 
commences  at  the  abdomen  and  breast,  and  after  making 
havoc  with  the  tit-bits  of  the  carcass,  he  will  take  a  second 
rest,  none  of  the  others  presuming  to  move.  Having  made 
a  second  gorge,  he  retires,  the  others  watching  his  motions, 
rush  on  the  remainder,  and  it  is  soon  devoured.  At  other 
times,  if  a  young  lion  seizes  the  prey,  and  an  old  one  happens 
to  come  up,  the  younger  retires  till  the  elder  has  dined.  This 


580  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

was  what  Africaner  called  better  manners  than  those  of  the 
Namaquas. 

Here  are  others  as  droll  from  the  same  source : — 
Passing  along  a  vale,  we  came  to  a  spot  where  the  lion 
appeared  to  have  been  exercising  himself  in  the  way  of  leap- 
ing. As  the  natives  are  very  expert  in  tracing  the  maneuvres 
of  animals  by  their  foot-marks,  it  was  soon  discovered  that  a 
large  lion  had  crept  towards  a  short  black  stump,  very  like 
the  human  form ;  when  within  about  a  dozen  yards,  it  bounded 
on  its  supposed  prey,  when,  to  his  mortification,  he  fell  a  foot 
or  two  short  of  it.  According  to  the  testimony  of  a  native 
who  had  been  watching  his  motions,  and  who  joined  us  soon 
after,  the  lion  lay  for  some  time  steadfastly  eyeing  its  sup- 
posed meal.  It  then  arose,  smelt  the  object,  and  returned  to 
the  spot  from  which  he  commenced  his  first  leap,  and  leaped 
four  several  times,  till  at  last  he  placed  his  paw  on  the 
imagined  prize.  On  another  occasion,  when  Africaner  and 
an  attendant  were  passing  near  the  end  of  a  hill,  from  which 
jutted  out  a  smooth  rock  of  ten  or  twelve  feet  high,  he 
observed  a  number  of  zebras  pressing  round  it,  obliged  to 
keep  the  path,  beyond  which  it  was  precipitous.  A  lion  was 
seen  creeping  up  towards  the  path,  to  intercept  the  large 
etallion,  which  is  always  in  the  rear  to  defend  or  warn  the 
troop.  The  lion  missed  his  mark,  and  while  the  zebra  rushed 
round  the  point,  the  lion  knew  well,  if  he  could  mount  the 
rock  at  one  leap,  the  next  would  be  on  the  zebra's  back,  it 
being  obliged  to  turn  towards  the  hill.  He  fell  short,  with 
only  his  head  over  the  stone,  looking  at  the  galloping  zebra 
switching  his  tail  in  the  air.  He  then  tried  a  second  and  a 
tnird  leap,  till  he  succeeded.  In  the  meantime  two  more 
lions  came  up,  and  seemed  to  roar  and  talk  away  about 
something,  while  the  old  lion  led  them  round  the  rock,  and 
round  it  again ;  then  he  made  another  grand  leap,  to  show 
them  what  he  and  they  must  do  next  time.  Africaner  added. 


ADVENTURES   WITH   LIONS.  581 

with  the  nLost  perfect  gravity,  "They  evidently  talked  to 
each  other,  but  though  loud  enough,  I  could  not  understand 
a  word  they  said ;  and,  fearing  lest  we  should  be  the  next 
objects  of  their  skill,  we  crept  away  and  left  them  in  council." 

This  is  a  fine  story,  and  I  do  not  regard  it  with  near  the 
suspicion  with  which  I  do'  those  vaunting  ones  of  personal 
adventure  to  which  I  have  referred'.  I  do  not  at  all  doubt 
the  sagacious  measuring  of  strength  with  distance  by  the 
lion.  How  else  could  certainty  be  secured  in  the  next 
experiment — though  the  self-educating  processes  of  the 
young  lion  are  plainly  indicated.  Another  story  of  more 
tragic  character  is  given. 

The  following  fact  will  show  the  fearful  dangers  to  which 
solitary  travellers  are  sometimes  exposed.  A  man  belonging 
to  Mr.  Schmelen's  congregation,  at  Bethany,  returning  home- 
wards from  a  visit  to  his  friends,  took  a  circuitous  course  in 
order  to  pass  a  small  fountain,  or  rather  pool,  where  he  hoped 
to  kill  an  antelope,  to  carry  home  to  his  family.  The  sun 
had  risen  to  some  height  by  the  time  he  reached  the  spot, 
and  seeing  no  game,  he  laid  his  gun  down  on  a  shelving  low 
rock,  the  back  part  of  which  was  covered  over  with  a  species 
of  dwarf  thorn-bushes.  He  went  to  the  water,  took  a  hearty 
drink,  and  returned  to  the  rock,  smoked  his  pipe,  and  being 
a  little  tired,  fell  asleep.  In  a  short  time  the  heat  reflected 
from  the  rock  awoke  him,  and  opening  his  eyes,  he  saw  a 
large  lion  crouching  before  him,  with  its  eyes  glaring  in  his 
face,  and  within  little  more  than  a  yard  of  his  feet.  He  sat 
motionless  for  some  minutes,  till  he  had  recovered  his  presence 
of  mind,  then  eyeing  his  gun,  moved  his  hand  slowly  towards 
it ;  the  lion  seeing  him,  raised  its  head,  and  gave  a  tremendous 
roar;  he  made  another  and  another  attempt,  but  the  gun 
being  far  beyond  his  reach,  he  gave  it  up,  as  the  lion  seemed 
well  aware  of  his  object,  and  was  enraged  whenever  he 
attempted  to  move  his  hand.  His  situation  now  became 
painful  in  the  extreme  ;  the  rock  on  which  he  sat  became 


582  WILD   SCENES  AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

so  hot  that  he  could  scarcely  bear  his  naked  feet  to  touch 
it,  and  kept  moving  them,  alternately  placing  one  above  the 
other.  The  day  passed,  and  the  night  also,  but  the  lion 
never  moved  from  the  spot;  the  sun  rose  again,  and  its 
intense  heat  soon  rendered  his  feet  past  feeling.  At  noon 
the  lion  rose  and  walked  to  the  water,  only  a  few  yards 
distant,  looking  behind  as  it  went,  lest  the  man  should  move, 
and  seeing  him  stretch  out  his  hand  to  take  his  gun,  turned 
in  a  rage,  and  was  on  the  point  of  springing  upon  him.  The 
animal  went  to  the  water,  drank,  and  returning,  lay  down 
again  at  the  edge  of  the  rock.  Another  night  passed ;  the 
man,  in  describing  it,  said,  he  knew  not  whether  he  slept,  but 
if  he  did,  it  must  have  been  with  his  eyes  open,  for  he  always 
saw  the  lion  at  his  feet.  Next  day,  in  the  forenoon,  the 
animal  went  again  to  the  water,  and  while  there,  he  listened 
to  some  noise  apparently  from  an  opposite  quarter,  and  dis- 
appeared in  the  bushes.  The  man  now  made  another  effort, 
and  seized  his  gun ;  but  on  attempting  to  rise,  he  fell,  his 
ankles  being  without  power.  With  his  gun  in  his  hand,  he 
crept  towards  the  water,  and  drank ;  but  looking  at  his  feet, 
he  saw,  as  he  expressed  it,  his  "  toes  roasted,"  and  the  skin 
torn  off  with  the  grass.  There  he  sat  a  few  moments,  expect- 
ing the  lion's  return,  when  he  was  resolved  to  send  the 
contents  of  the  gun  through  its  head;  but  as  it  did  not 
appear,  tying  his  gun  to  his  back,  the  poor  man  made  the 
best  of  his  way  on  his  hands  and  knees,  to  the  nearest 
path,  hoping  some  solitary  individual  might  pass.  He  could 
go  no  farther,  when,  providentially,  a  person  came  up,  who 
took  him  to  a  place  of  safety,  from  whence  he  obtained  help, 
though  he  lost  his  toes,  and  was  a  cripple  for  life. 

The  preceding  lion  stories,  selected  from  many  more,  will 
?erve  for  the  present  to  illustrate  something  of  the  character 
»f  that  noble,  but  dangerous  creature. 

Here  is  another  from  Moffat,  of  quite  as  curious  though 
rather  of  the  opposite  and  a  more  grotesque  nature. 


ADVENTURES   WITH   LIONS.  583 

As  to  his  being  afraid  of  the  human  eye,  I  shall  touch  on 
that  subject  in  another  part  of  my  work,  when  I  describe 
those  which  have  tasted  human  flesh,  for  which  they  ever 
afterwards  retain  an  uncommon  relish.  With  all  their  bold- 
ness, they  are  sometimes  arrant  cowards.  On  one  occasion, 
I  remember  a  man  who,  coming  unexpectedly  on  a  lion, 
fainted.  The  lion  raised  himself  to  look  over  the  bushes, 
and  seeing  no  one,  seemed  to  suspect  a  plot,  and  scampered 
off  with  his  tail  between  his  legs.  It  is  but  justice  to  add, 
that  the  man  was  no  less  cowardly ;  for,  on  awaking  from  his 
swoon,  and  looking  this  way  and  that,  he  imagined  the  object 
of  his  terror  was  still  there,  and  taking  to  his  heels,  he  made 
towards  the  wagon.  I  have  known  Bushmen,  and  even 
women,  drive  the  lion  away  from  the  prey  he  has  just  seized, 
by  beating  their  clubs  on  dry  hides,  and  shouting  ;  neverthe- 
less, by  day,  and  especially  by  night,  he  is  an  object  of  terror. 

Here  is  yet  another,  from  a  Missionary  of  South  Africa, 
which  is  analogous.  It  is  from  a  narrative  of  a  visit  to  the 
Mauritius  and  South  Africa,  by  James  Backhouse. 

A  Bushman  residing  near  the  Orange  river,  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Hardcastle  Kloof,  was  hunting  with  some  companions, 
and  observing  a  considerable  number  of  vultures  soaring  in 
the  air,  he  concluded  that  some  animal  had  been  accidentally 
killed,  of  which  he  might  possibly  obtain  a  share ;  he  therefore 
left  his  companions  and  repaired  to  the  spot,  where  he  found 
a  hartebeest  lying,  off  which  he  drove  a  number  of  these  birds. 
On  doing  this,  a  lion,  which  he  supposed  had  killed  the  harte- 
beest and  satisfied  its  hunger,  came  from  behind  a  neighboring 
bush  and  growled  at  him. 

Petrified  with  fear,  the  Bushman  stood  perfectly  still.  The 
lion  walked  round  him,  so  close  as  to  brush  him  with  its  tail, 
uttering  at  the  same  time  a  low  growl ;  it  went  to  a  short 
distance  and  sat  down,  looking  at  the  Bushman,  who  kept  hia 
eye  upon  it  and  drew  back  a  few  paces ;  but  when  he  drew 
back  the  lion  advanced,  he  therefore  stood  quite  still  till  the 


584  WILD    SCENES    AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

lion  retired  a  little  and  lay  down.  The  Bushman  seized  the 
opportunity,  picked  up  a  few  straws  of  dried  grass  and  began 
to  try  to  strike  a  light ;  but  as  soon  as  the  lion  heard  the 
tapping  of  the  flint  and  steel,  it  rose  again  and  walked  around 
the  Bushman,  brushing  him  as  before;  again  the  Bushman 
was  still,  and  again  the  lion  retired.  The  Bushman  once 
more  plied  his  flint  and  steel,  and  again  the  lion  advanced 
from  his  retreat.  At  this  moment  the  Bushman  succeeded  in 
obtaining  a  light,  but  such  was  his  terror  that,  forgetting 
himself,  he  continued  blowing  at  it  till  it  scorched  his  face. 
The  lion  made  a  stand  when  he  saw  the  flame,  and  as  this 
increased  when  the  burning  grass  was  dropped  into  a  dry 
bush,  the  lion  fled.  The  Bushman,  who  had  been  thus 
detained  from  noon  to  sunset,  lost  no  time,  when  the  lion 
was  sufficiently  far  gone,  in  also  making  his  retreat ;  he  said 
he  had  never  run  so  fast  before,  and  when  he  reached  his 
companions  he  was  pale  and  sick  with  fright. 

These  missionary  stories  most  strikingly  illustrate  that 
mysterious  power  over  "the  beasts  of  the  field"  which  is 
undoubtedly  exercised  by  all  beings,  even  though  they  be 
degraded  Hottentots,  who  chance  to  bear  the  "upturned 
countenance"  which  was  stamped  upon  the  human  race  as 
a  "sign  of  dominion."  Gumming  gives  a  still  more  extraordi- 
nary relation  of  an  incident  of  the  same  class  which  happened 
to  himself.  Although  this  has  generally  been  set  down  as 
an  apocryphal  anecdote,  yet  I  am,  from  my  own  experience 
of  animals,  if  not  for  many  other  reasons,  disposed  to  believe 
it  a  real  incident,  and  therefore  give  it  as  he  tells  it  literally. 

Ruyter  came  towards  me,  and  I  ran  forward  to  obtain  a 
view  beyond  a  slight  rise  in  the  ground  to  see  whither  the 
lioness  had  gone.  In  so  doing  I  came  suddenly  upon  them, 
within  about  seventy  yards ;  they  were  standing  looking 
back  at  Ruyter.  I  then  very  rashly  commenced  making  a 
rapid  stalk  in  upon  them,  and  fired  at  the  nearest,  having 
only  one  shot  in  my  rifle.  The  ball  told  loudly,  and  the 


ADVENTURES   WITH   LIONS.  585 

lioness  at  which  I  had  fired  wheeled  right  round,  and  came 
on  lashing  her  tail,  showing  her  teeth,  and  making  that 
horrid,  murderous  deep  growl  which  an  angry  lion  generally 
utters.  At  the  same  moment,  her  comrade,  who  seemed 
better  to  know  that  she  was  in  the  presence  of  man,  made  a 
hasty  retreat  into  the  reeds.  The  instant  the  lioness  came 
on,  I  stood  up  to  my  full  height,  holding  my  rifle,  and  my 
arms  extended,  and  high  above  my  head.  This  checked  her 
in  her  course  ;  but  on  looking  round  and  missing  her  comrade, 
and  observing  Ruyter  slowly  advancing,  she  was  still  more 
exasperated,  and,  fancying  that  she  was  being  surrounded, 
she  made  another  forward  movement,  growling  terribly. 
This  was  a  moment  of  great  danger,  I  felt  that  my  only 
chance  of  safety  was  extreme  steadiness ;  so,  standing 
motionless  as  a  rock,  with  my  eyes  firmly  fixed  upon  her,  I 
called  out  in  a  clear,  commanding  voice,  "  Holloa !  old  girl, 
what's  the  hurry?  take  it  easy;  holloa!  holloa!"  She 
instantly  once  more  halted,  and  seemed  perplexed,  looking 
round  for  her  comrade.  I  then  thought  it  prudent  to  beat 
a  retreat,  which  I  very  slowly  did,  talking  to  the  lioness  all 
the  time.  She  seemed  undecided  as  to  her  future  movements, 
and  was  gazing  after  me  and  snuffing  the  ground  when  I  last 
beheld  her. 

But  here  we  have  another  adventure  of  his  with  a  lioness, 
too,  in  which  he  does  not  prove  altogether  so  successful  in 
"running  his  face"  upon  the  roused  lady  of  the  wastes. 

Suddenly  I  observed  a  number  of  vultures  seated  on  the 
plain  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  ahead  of  us,  and  close  beside 
them  stood  a  huge  lioness,  consuming  a  blesbok  which  she 
had  killed.  She  was  assisted  in  her  repast  by  about  a  dozen 
jackals,  which  were  feasting  along  with  her  in  the  most 
friendly  and  confidential  manner.  Directing  my  followers' 
attention  to  the  spot,  I  remarked,  "I  see  the  lion;"  to  which 
they  replied,  "Whar?  whar?  Yah!  Almagtag!  dat  is  he;" 
and  instantly  reining  in  their  steeds  and  wheeling  about, 


586  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

they  pressed  their  heels  to  their  horses'  sides,  and  were 
preparing  to  betake  themselves  to  flight.  I  asked  them 
•what  they  were  going  to  do.  To  •which  they  answered, 
"Wo  have  not  yet  placed  caps  on  our  rifles."  This  was 
true;  but  while  this  short  conversation  was  passing,  the 
lioness  had  obs-erved  us.  Kaising  her  full,  round  face,  she 
overhauled  us  for  a  few  seconds,  and  then  set  off  at  a  smart 
canter  towards  a  range  of  mountains  some  miles  to  the  north- 
ward ;  the  whole  troop  of  jackals  also  started  off  in  another 
direction ;  there  was,  therefore,  no  time  to  think  of  caps. 
The  first  move  was  to  bring  her  to  bay,  and  not  a  second 
was  to  be  lost.  Spurring  my  good  and  lively  steed,  and 
shouting  to  my  men  to  follow,  I  flew  across  the  plain,  and, 
being  fortunately  mounted  on  Colesburg,  the  flower  of  my 
stud,  I  gained  upon  her  at  every  stride.  This  was  to  me  a 
joyful  moment,  and  I  at  once  made  up  my  mind  that  she  or 
I  must  die. 

The  lioness  having  had  a  long  start  of  me,  we  went  over 
a  considerable  extent  of  ground  before  I  came  up  with  her. 
She  was  a  large,  full-grown  beast,  and  the  bare  and  level 
nature  of  the  plain  added  to  her  imposing  appearance. 
Finding  that  I  gained  upon  her,  she  reduced  her  pace  from 
a  canter  to  a  trot,  carrying  her  tail  stuck  out  behind  her, 
and  slewed  a  little  to  one  side.  I  shouted  loudly  to  her  to 
halt,  as  I  wished  to  speak  with  her,  upon  which  she  suddenly 
pulled  up,  and  sat  on  her  haunches  like  a  dog,  with  her 
back  towards  me,  not  even  deigning  to  look  round.  She 
then  appeared  to  say  to  herself,  "Does  this  fellow  know  who 
he  is  after?"  Having  thus  sat  for  half  a  minute,  as  if 
involved  in  thought,  she  sprang  to  her  feet,  and,  facing 
about,  stood  looking  at  me  for  a  few  seconds,  moving  her 
tail  slowly  from  side  to  side,  showing  her  teeth,  and  growling 
fiercely.  She  next  made  a  short  run  forward,  making  a 
loud,  rumbling  noise  like  thunder.  This  she  did  to  intimidate 
me;  but,  finding  that  I  did  not  flinch  an  inch  nor  seem  to 


ADVENTURES   WITH   LIONS.  587 

heed  her  hostile  demonstrations,  she  quietly  stretched  out 
her  massive  arms,  and  lay  down  on  the  grass.  My  Hottentots 
now  coming  up,  we  all  three  dismounted,  and,  drawing  our 
rifles  from  their  holsters,  we  looked  to  see  if  the  powder  was 
up  in  the  nipples,  and  put  on  our  caps.  While  this  was 
doing  the  lioness  sat  up,  and  showed  evident  symptoms  of 
uneasiness.  She  looked  first  at  us,  and  then  behind  her,  as 
if  to  see  if  the  coast  were  clear ;  after  which  she  made  a 
short  run  towards  us,  uttering  her  deep-drawn,  murderous 
growls.  Having  secured  the  three  horses  to  one  another  by 
their  rheims,  we  led  them  on  as  if  we  intended  to  pass  her, 
in  the  hope  of  obtaining  a  broadside.  But  this  she  carefully 
avoided  to  expose,  presenting  only  her  full  front.  I  had 
given  Stofolus  my  Moore  rifle,  with  orders  to  shoot  her  if 
she  should  spring  upon  me,  but  on  no  account  to  fire  before 
me.  Kleinboy  was  to  stand  ready  to  hand  me  my  Purdey 
rifle,  in  case  the  two-grooved  Dixon  should  not  prove  sufficient. 
My  men  as  yet  had  been  steady,  but  they  were  in  a  precious 
stew,  their  faces  having  assumed  a  ghastly  paleness,  and 
I  had  a  painful  feeling  that  I  could  place  no  reliance  on 
them. 

Now,  then,  for  it,  neck  or  nothing !  She  is  within  sixty 
yards  of  us,  and  she  keeps  advancing.  We  turned  the  horses' 
tails  to  her.  I  knelt  on  one  side,  and,  taking  a  steady  aim 
at  her  breast,  let  fly.  The  ball  cracked  loudly  on  her  tawny 
hide,  and  crippled  her  in  the  shoulder,  upon  which  she 
charged  with  an  appalling  roar,  and  in  the  twinkling  of  an 
eye  she  was  in  the  midst  of  us.  At  this  moment  Stofolus's 
rifle  exploded  in  his  hand,  and  Kleinboy,  whom  I  had  ordered 
to  stand  reidy  by  me,  danced  about  like  a  duck  in  a  gale 
of  wind.  Tho  lioness  sprang  upon  Colesburg,  and  fearfully 
lacerated  his  ribs  and  haunches  with  her  horrid  teeth  and 
claws ;  the  worst  wound  was  on  his  haunch,  which  exhibited  a 
sickening,  yawning  gash,  more  than  twelve  inches  long,  almost 
laying  bare  the  very  bone.  I  was  very  cool  and  steady,  and 


588  "WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

did  not  feel  in  the  least  degree  nervous,  having  fortunately 
great  confidence  in  my  own  shooting ;  but  I  must  confess, 
when  the  whole  affair  was  over,  I  felt  that  it  was  a  very 
awful  situation,  and  attended  with  extreme  peril,  as  I  had  no 
friend  with  me  on  whom  I  could  rely. 

When  the  lioness  sprang  on  Colcsburg,  I  stood  out  from 
the  horses,  ready  with  my  second  barrel  for  the  first  chance 
she  should  give  me  of  a  clear  shot.  This  she  quickly  did ; 
for,  seemingly  satisfied  with  the  revenge  she  had  now  taken, 
she  quitted  Colesburg,  and,  slewing  her  tail  to  one  side, 
trotted  sulkily  past  within  a  few  paces  of  me,  taking  one 
step  to  the  left.  I  pitched  my  rifle  to  my  shoulder,  and  in 
another  second  the  lioness  was  stretched  on  the  plain  a 
lifeless  corpse.  In  the  struggles  of  death  she  half  turned 
on  her  back,  and  stretched  her  neck  and  fore  arms  con- 
vulsively, when  she  fell  back  to  her  former  position ;  her 
mighty  arms  hung  powerless  by  her  side,  her  lower  jaw  fell, 
blood  streamed  from  her  mouth,  and  she  expired.  At  the 
moment  I  fired  my  second  shot,  Stofolus,  who  hardly  knew 
whether  he  was  alive  or  dead,  allowed  the  three  horses  to 
escape.  These  galloped  frantically  across  the  plain,  on 
which  he  and  Kleinboy  instantly  started  after  them,  leaving 
me  standing  alone  and  unarmed  within  a  few  paces  of  the 
lioness,  which  they,  from  their  anxiety  to  be  out  of  the  way, 
evidently  considered  quite  capable  of  doing  further  mischief. 

Such  is  ever  the  case  with  these  worthies,  and  with  nearly 
all  the  natives  of  South  Africa.  No  reliance  can  be  placed 
on  them.  They  will  to  a  certainty  forsake  their  master  in 
the  most  dastardly  manner  in  the  hour  of  peril,  and  leave 
him  in  the  lurch.  A  stranger,  however,  hearing  these 
fellows  recounting  their  own  gallant  adventures,  when  sitting 
in  the  evening  along  with  their  comrades  round  a  blazing 
fire,  or  under  the  influence  of  their  adored  "  Cape  smoke" 
or  native  brandy,  might  fancy  them  to  be  the  bravest  of  the 
brave.  Having  skinned  the  lioness  and  cut  off  her  head,  wo 


ADVENTURES   WITH    LIONS.  589 

placed  her  trophies  upon  Beauty  and  held  for  camp.  Before 
•we  had  proceeded  a  hundred  yards  from  the  carcass,  upwards 
of  sixty  vultures,  -whom  the  lioness  had  often  fed,  were 
fcastin"-  on  hor  remains. 

O 

These  tawny  ladies  appear  to  have  a  temper  of  their  own, 
in  common  with  the  sex  generally ;  indeed,  it  appears  to  be 
the  united  testimony  of  travellers,  that  the  lioness  is  most 
apt  to  be  aggressively  dangerous  when  she  has  cubs ;  while 
the  attacks  of  the  lion  are  only  to  be  greatly  dreaded  when 
wounded,  while  he  stands  on  the  defensive.  Harris,  however, 
exhibits  the  monarch  in  one  of  those  grand  and  terrible  out- 
bursts of  apparently  causeless  wrath,  to  which  he,  in  common 
with  the  elephant  and  all  the  larger  beasts,  seem  to  be  subject, 
both  in  their  native  wilds  and  in  confinement.  Here  is  his 
story. 

Peeping  out,  however,  to  ascertain  if  there  was  any 
prospect  of  its  clearing  up,  we  perceived  three  lions  squatted 
within  a  hundred  yards,  in  the  open  plain,  attentively 
watching  the  oxen.  Our  rifles  were  hastily  seized,  but  the 
dampness  of  the  atmosphere  prevented  their  exploding.  One 
after  another,  too,  the  Hottentots  sprang  out  of  the  pack 
wagon,  and  snapped  their  guns  at  the  unwelcome  intruders, 
as  they  trotted  sulkily  away,  and  took  up  their  position  on 
a  stony  eminence  at  no  great  distance.  Fresh  caps  and 
priming  were  applied,  and  a  broadside  was  followed  by  the 
instantaneous  demise  of  the  largest,  whose  cranium  was 
perforated  by  two  bullets  at  the  same  instant.  Swinging 
their  tails  over  their  backs,  the  two  survivors  took  warning 
by  the  fate  of  their  companion,  and  dashed  into  the  thicket 
with  a  roar.  In  another  half  hour  the  voice  of  Leo  wa3 
again  heard  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  about  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  from  the  camp ;  and  from  the  wagon  top  we  could 
perceive  a  savage  monster  rampant,  with  his  tail  hoisted  and 
whirling  in  a  circle,  charging  furiously  along  the  base  of  the 
range,  and  in  desperate  wrath,  making  towards  John  April, 


590  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

who  was  tending  the  sheep.  Every  one  instinctively  grasped 
his  weapon,  and  rushed  to  the  rescue,  calling  loudly  to  warn 
the  expected  victim  of  his  danger.  Without  taking  the 
smallest  notice  of  him,  however,  the  infuriated  monster 
dashed  past,  roaring  and  lashing  his  sides,  until  concealed 
in  the  mist.  Those  who  have  seen  the  savage  monarch  of 
the  forest,  in  crippled  captivity  only,  immured  in  a  cage 
barely  double  his  own  length,  with  his  sinews  relaxed  by 
confinement,  have  seen  but  the  shadow  of  that  animal  which 
"clears  the  desert  with  his  rolling  eye." 

This  is  by  far  the  noblest  picture  of  the  king  of  brutes  in 
all  the  magnificence  of  his  freedom,  and  terror  of  his  might 
and  wrath,  that  I  remember  in  the  whole  range  of  this  species 
of  literature.  The  simple  grandeur  of  the  recital  is  in  most 
unfavorable  contrast  with  a  rather  sputtering  attempt,  on  the 
part  of  Gumming,  to  "  do  up  the  sublime,"  in  his  description 
of  a  rencontre  with  the  dreaded  "man-eater  lion/'  which 
carried  off  one  of  his  men  at  night  from  the  midst  of  his 
camp,  and  was  next  day  slain  by  him.  There  is  such  huge 
overstraining  of  epithetical  horrors  on  the  part  of  the  narrator 
of  an  event,  sufficiently  hideous  in  itself,  that  I  decline 
inserting  it  here — but  shall  quote  instead  from  the  gallant 
Missionary,  Moffat,  a  much  more  modest  and  comprehensible 
account  of  an  incident  something  parallel,  which  will  at  least 
convey  a  most  clear  idea  of  what  the  appetite  of  a  lion  is,  as 
well  as  something  of  the  dangers  from  them  to  be  encountered 
by  the  traveller  in  South  Africa. 

Having  put  my  wagon  in  order,  taken  a  driver,  and  a  little 
boy  as  leader  of  the  oxen,  and  two  Barolongs,  who  were  going 
to  the  same  place,  I  left  the  station,  my  wife  and  family,  for 
an  absence  of  two  or  three  months.  Our  journey  lay  over  a 
wild  and  dreary  country,  inhabited  by  Balalas  only,  and  but 
a  sprinkling  of  these.  On  the  night  of  the  third  day's 
journey,  having  halted  at  a  pool,  (Khokhole),  we  listened, 
on  the  lonely  plain,  for  the  sound  of  an  inhabitant,  but  all 


ADVENTURES  WITH   LIONS.  591 

was  silent.  "We  could  discover  no  lights,  and,  amid  the  dark- 
ness, -were  unable  to  trace  footmarks  to  the  pool.  We  let 
loose  our  wearied  oxen  to  drink  and  graze,  but  as  we  were 
ignorant  of  the  character  of  the  company  with  which  we 
might  have  to  spend  the  night,  we  took  a  firebrand,  and 
examined  the  edges  of  the  pool  to  see,  from  the  imprints, 
what  animals  were  in  the  habit  of  drinking  there,  and,  with 
terror,  discovered  many  spoors  of  lions.  We  immediately 
collected  the  oxen,  and  brought  them  to  the  wagon,  to  which 
we  fastened  them  with  the  strongest  thongs  we  had,  having 
discovered  in  their  appearance  something  rather  wild,  indi- 
cating that  either  from  scent  or  sight,  they  knew  danger  was 
near.  The  two  Barolongs  had  brought  a  young  cow  with 
them,  and  though  I  recommended  their  making  her  fast  also, 
they  very  humorously  replied  that  she  was  too  wise  to  leave 
the  wagon  and  oxen,  even  though  a  lion  should  be  scented. 
We  took  a  little  supper,  which  was  followed  by  our  evening 
hymn,  and  prayer.  I  had  retired  only  a  few  minutes  to  my 
wagon  to  prepare  for  the  night,  when  the  whole  of  the  oxen 
started  to  their  feet. 

A  lion  had  seized  the  cow  only  a  few  steps  from  their  tails, 
and  dragged  it  to  the  distance  of  thirty  or  forty  yards,  where 
we  distinctly  heard  it  tearing  the  animal,  and  breaking  the 
bones,  while  its  bellowings  were  most  pitiful.  When  these 
were  over,  I  seized  my  gun,  but  as  it  was  too  dark  to  see  any 
object  at  half  the  distance,  I  aimed  at  the  spot  where  the 
devouring  jaws  of  the  lion  were  heard.  I  fired  again  and 
again,  to  which  he  replied  with  tremendous  roars,  at  the 
same  time  making  a  rush  towards  the  wagon,  so  as  exceed- 
ingly to  terrify  the  oxen.  The  two  Barolongs  engaged  to 
take  firebrands,  advance  a  few  yards,  and  throw  them  at  him, 
so  as  to  afford  me  a  degree  of  light,  that  I  might  take  aim, 
the  place  being  bushy.  They  had  scarcely  discharged  them 
from  their  hands,  when  the  flame  went  out,  and  the  enraged 
animal  rushed  towards  them  with  such  swiftness,  that  I  had 


592  "WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

barely  time  to  turn  the  gun  and  fire  between  the  men  and  the 
lion,  and  providentially  the  ball  struck  the  ground  imme- 
diately under  his  head,  as  we  found  by  examination  the 
following  morning.  From  this  surprise  he  returned,  growling 
dreadfully.  The  men  darted  through  some  thorn-bushes 
with  countenances  indicative  of  the  utmost  terror.  It  was 
now  the  opinion  of  all  that  we  had  better  let  him  alone  if 
he  did  not  molest  us. 

Having  but  a  scanty  supply  of  wood  to  keep  up  a  fire,  one 
man  crept  among  the  bushes  on  one  side  of  the  pool,  while  I 
proceeded  for  the  same  purpose  on  the  other  side.  I  had  not 
gone  far,  when,  looking  upward  to  the  edge  of  the  small  basin, 
I  discerned  between  me  and  the  sky  four  animals,  whose 
attention  appeared  to  be  directed  to  me,  by  the  noise  I  made 
in  breaking  a  dry  stick.  On  closer  inspection,  I  found  that 
the  large,  round,  hairy-headed  visiters  were  lions ;  and 
retreated  on  my  hands  and  feet  towards  the  other  side  of 
the  pool,  when  coming  to  my  wagon-driver,  to  inform  him 
of  our  danger,  I  found  him  looking,  with  no  little  alarm,  in 
an  opposite  direction,  and  with  good  reason,  as  no  fewer  than 
two  lions,  with  a  cub,  were  eyeing  us  both,  apparently  as 
uncertain  about  us  as  we  were  distrustful  of  them.  They 
appeared,  as  they  always  do  in  the  dark,  twice  the  usual  size. 
We  thankfully  decamped  to  the  wagon,  and  sat  clown  to  keep 
alive  our  scanty  fire,  while  we  listened  to  the  lion  tearing  and 
devouring  his  prey.  When  any  of  the  other  hungry  lions 
dared  to  approach,  he  would  pursue  them  for  some  paces, 
with  a  horrible  howl,  which  made  our  poor  oxen  tremble,  and 
produced  any  thing  but  agreeable  sensations  in  ourselves. 
We  had  reason  for  alarm,  lest  any  of  the  six  lions  we  saw, 
fearless  of  our  small  fire,  might  rush  in  among  us.  The  two 
Barolongs  were  grudging  the  lion  his  fat  meal,  and  would 
now  and  then  break  the  silence  with  a  deep  sigh,  and  expres- 
sions of  regret  that  such  a  vagabond  lion  should  have  such  a 
feast  on  their  cow,  which  they  anticipated  would  have  afforded 


ADVENTURES   WITH   LIOXS.  593 

them  many  a  draught  of  luscious  milk.  Before  the  day 
dawned,  having  deposited  nearly  the  whole  of  the  carcass  in 
his  stomach,  he  collected  the  head,  back  bone,  parts  of  the 
legs,  the  paunch,  which  he  emptied  of  its  contents,  and  the 
two  clubs  which  had  been  thrown  at  him,  and  walked  off, 
leaving  nothing  but  some  fragments  of  bones,  and  one  of  my 
balls,  which  had  hit  the  carcass  instead  of  himself. 

When  it  was  light  we  examined  the  spot,  and  found,  from 
the  foot-marks,  that  the  lion  was  a  large  one,  and  had 
devoured  the  cow  himself.  I  had  some  difficulty  in  believing 
this,  but  was  fully  convinced  by  the  Barolongs  pointing  out 
to  me  that  the  foot-marks  of  the  other  lions  had  not  come 
within  thirty  yards  of  the  spot,  two  jackals  only  had 
approached  to  lick  up  any  little  leavings.  The  men  pursued 
the  spoor  to  find  the  fragments,  where  the  lion  had  deposited 
them,  while  he  retired  to  a  thicket  to  sleep  during  the  day. 
I  had  often  heard  how  much  a  large,  hungry  lion  would  eat, 
but  nothing  less  than  a  demonstration  would  have  convinced 
me  that  it  was  possible  for  him  to  have  eaten  all  the  flesh  of 
a  good  heifer,  and  many  of  the  bones,  for  scarcely  a  rib  was 
left,  and  even  some  of  the  marrow  bones  were  broke  as  if 
with  a  hammer. 

After  this,  I  think  the  curiosity  of  few  would  carry  them 
so  far  as  to  desire  to  test  the  appetite  of  a  hungry  South 
African  lion  under  any  circumstances,  where  "  proxy"  could 
not  conveniently  be  substituted  as  in  this  case,  with  the  poor 
cow.  Here  I  will  take  leave  of  the  South  African  lion  with 
the  remark,  that  with  all  the  grandeur  of  his  roarings,  his 
strength,  and  his  appetite,  he  is  on  the  whole  a  most  pusil- 
lanimous sneak ;  and  in  consistent  ferocity,  is  not  near  so 
much  to  be  dreaded,  or  so  formidable,  indeed,  as  our  Grisly 
Bear,  which  is  not  only  fully  his  equal  in  strength,  but  sur- 
passes him  in  courage  altogether. 

38 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

THE   RHINOCEEOS   AND   HIPPOPOTAMUS. 

OUR  African  adventurers  plume  themselves  evidently  upon 
having  out-Heroded  the  Herods  of  all  previous  Romance  of 
Hunting — in  having  capped  the  climax  of  dashing  extrava- 
gance, by  combatting  both  behemoth  and  the  unicorn  in 
their  own  meadows  and  beneath  forests  as  hoar  as  their 
renown.  It  certainly  constitutes  a  very  striking  element 
of  true  romance — this  picture  of  two  young  men  penetrating 
the  most  ancient  solitudes  of  earth,  to  battle,  single-handed, 
with  these  sole  representatives  of  monsters  before  the  Flood, 
whose  huge  remains  now  fill  the  generations  with  such  awe ! 

59-4 


BEHEMOTH   AND   THE   UNICORN.  595 

Verily  the  rifle  has  brought  us  back  to  the  antediluvian 
prowess  of  that  period,  concerning  which  it  is  recorded,  as 
I  have  before  remarked, — "  and  there  were?  giants  in  those 
days !" 

Gumming,  in  his  off-hand  way,  thus  introduces  us  to  the 
unicorn. 

Of  the  rhinoceros  there  are  four  varieties  in  South 
Africa,  distinguished  by  the  Bechuanas  by  the  names  of 
the  borele',  or  black  rhinoceros,  the  keitloa,  or  two-horned 
black  rhinoceros,  the  muchocho,  or  common  white  rhinoceros, 
and  the  kobaoba,  or  long-horned  white  rhinoceros.  Both 
varieties  of  the  black  rhinoceros  are  extremely  fierce  and 
dangerous,  and  rush  headlong  and  unprovoked  at  any  object 
which  attracts  their  attention.  They  never  attain  much  fat, 
and  their  flesh  is  tough,  and  not  much  esteemed  by  the 
Bechuanas.  Their  food  consists  almost  entirely  of  the 
thorny  branches  of  the  wait-a-bit  thorns.  Their  horns  are 
much  shorter  than  those  of  the  other  varieties,  seldom 
exceeding  eighteen  inches  in  length.  They  are  finely 
polished  with  constant  rubbing  against  the  trees.  The  skull 
is  remarkably  formed,  its  most  striking  feature,  being  the 
tremendous  thick  ossification  in  which  it  ends  above  the 
nostrils.  It  is  on  this  mass  that  the  horn  is  supported. 
The  horns  are  not  connected  with  the  skull,  being  attached 
merely  by  the  skin,  and  they  may  thus  be  separated  from 
the  head  by  means  of  a  sharp  knife.  They  are  hard  and 
perfectly  solid  throughout,  and  are  a  fine  material  for 
various  articles,  such  as  drinking-cups,  mallets  for  rifles, 
handles  for  turner's  tools,  &c.  &c.  The  horn  is  capable 
of  a  very  high  polish.  The  eyes  of  the  rhinoceros  are 
small  and  sparkling,  and  do  not  readily  observe  the 
hunter,  provided  he  keeps  to  leeward  of  them.  The  skin 
is  extremely  thick,  and  only  to  be  penetrated  by  buflets 
hardened  with  solder.  During  the  day  the  rhinoceros  will 
be  found  lying  asleep  or  standing  indolently  in  some  retired 


596  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

part  of  the  forest,  or  under  the  base  of  the  mountains, 
sheltered  from  the  power  of  the  sun  by  some  friendly  grove 
of  umbrella-topped  mimosas.  In  the  evening  they  commence 
their  nightly  ramble,  and  wander  over  a  great  extent  of 
country.  They  usually  visit  the  fountains  between  the  hours 
of  nine  and  twelve  o'clock  at  night,  and  it  is  on  these 
occasions  that  they  may  be  most  successfully  hunted,  and 
with  the  least  danger.  The  black  rhinoceros  is  subject  to 
paroxysms  of  unprovoked  fury,  often  ploughing  up  the 
ground  for  several  yards  with  its  horn,  and  assaulting  large 
bushes  in  the  most  violent  manner.  On  these  bushes  they 
work  for  hours  with  their  horns,  at  the  same  time  snorting 
and  blowing  loudly,  nor  do  they  leave  them  in  general  until 
they  have  broken  them  into  pieces.  The  rhinoceros  is  sup- 
posed by  many,  and  by  myself  among  the  rest,  to  be  the  animal 
alluded  to  by  Job,  chap,  xxxix.,  verses  10  and  11,  where  it 
is  written,  "  Canst  thou  bind  the  unicorn  with  his  band  in 
the  furrow  ?  or  will  he  harrow  the  valleys  after  thee  ?  Wilt 
thou  trust  him  because  his  strength  is  great  ?  or  wilt  thou 
leave  thy  labor  to  him?"  evidently  alluding  to  an  animal 
possessed  of  great  strength  and  of  untameable  disposition, 
for  both  of  which  the  rhinoceros  is  remarkable.  All  the 
four  varieties  delight  to  roll  and  wallow  in  mud,  with  which 
their  rugged  hides  are  generally  incrusted.  Both  varieties 
of  the  black  rhinoceros  are  much  smaller  and  more  active 
than  the  white,  and  are  so  swift  that  a  horse  with  a  rider 
on  his  back  can  rarely  overtake  them.  The  two  varieties 
of  the  wliite  rhinoceros  are  so  similar  in  habits,  that  the 
description  of  one  will  serve  for  both,  the  principal  difference 
consisting  in  the  length  and  set  of  the  anterior  horn;  that 
of  the  rnuchocho  averaging  from  two  to  three  feet  in  length, 
and  pointing  backwards,  while  the  horn  of  the  kobaoba  often 
exceeds  four  feet  in  length,  and  inclines  forward  from  the 
nose  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees.  The  posterior  horn 
of  either  species  seldom  exceeds  six  or  seven  inches  in 


BEHEMOTH  AND   THE   UNICORN.  597 

length.  The  kobaoba  is  the  rarer  of  the  two,  and  it  is  found 
very  far  in  the  interior,  chiefly  to  the  eastward  of  the 
Limpopo.  Its  horns  are  very  valuable  for  loading  rods, 
supplying  a  substance  at  once  suitable  for  a  sporting  imple- 
ment and  excellent  for  the  purpose.  Both  these  varieties  of 
rhinoceros  attain  an  enormous  size,  being  the  animals  next 
in  magnitude  to  the  elephant.  They  feed  solely  on  grass, 
carry  much  fat,  and  their  flesh  is  excellent,  being  preferable 
to  beef.  They  are  of  a  much  milder  and  more  inoffensive 
disposition  than  the  black  rhinoceros,  rarely  charging  their 
pursuer.  Their  speed  is  very  inferior  to  that  of  the  other 
varieties,  and  a  person  well  mounted  can  overtake  and  shoot 
them.  The  head  of  these  is  a  foot  longer  than  that  of  the 
borele*.  They  generally  carry  their  heads  low,  whereas  the 
.  borele,  when  disturbed,  carries  his  very  high,  which  imparts 
to  him  a  saucy  and  independent  air.  Unlike  the  elephants, 
they  never  associate  in  herds,  but  are  met  with  singly  or  in 
pairs.  In  districts  where  they  are  abundant,  from  three  to 
six  may  be  found  in  company,  and  I  once  saw  upward  of  a 
dozen  congregated  together  on  some  young  grass,  but  such 
an  occurrence  is  rare. 

Here,  too,  is  his  first  introduction  to  the  unicorn. 
Shortly  after  this  I  found  myself  on  the  banks  of  the 
stream  beside  which  my  wagons  were  outspanned.  Follow- 
ing along  its  margin,  I  presently  beheld  a  bull  of  the  borele', 
or  black  rhinoceros,  standing  within  a  hundred  yards  of  me. 
Dismounting  from  my  horse,  I  secured  him  to  a  tree,  and 
then  stalked  within  twenty  yards  of  the  huge  beast,  under 
cover  of  a  large,  strong  bush.  Borele',  hearing  me  advance, 
came  on  to  see  what  it  was,  and  suddenly  protruded  his 
horny  nose  within  twenty  yards  of  me.  Knowing  well  that 
a  front  shot  would  not  prove  deadly,  I  sprang  to  my  feet 
and  ran  behind  the  bush.  Upon  this  the  villain  charged, 
blowing  loudly,  and  chased  me  round  the  bush.  Had  'his 
activity  been  equal  to  his  ugliness,  my  wanderings  would 


598  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

have  terminated  here,  but  by  my  superior  agility  I  had  the 
advantage  in  the  turn.  After  standing  a  short  time,  eyeing 
me  through  the  bush,  he  got  a  whiff  of  my  wind,  which  at 
once  alarmed  him.  Uttering  a  blowing  noise,  and  erecting 
his  insignificant  yet  saucy-looking  tail,  he  wheeled  about, 
leaving  me  master  of  the  field,  when  I  sent  a  bullet  through 
his  ribs,  to  teach  him  manners. 

But  the  most  extraordinary  fact  connected  with  the  history 
of  the  rhinoceros  comes  under  the  observation  of  Gumming 
immediately  after  this  incident.  It  is  thus  introduced : — 

On  the  forenoon  of  the  23d  a  native  came  and  informed 
me  that  he  had  discovered  a  white  rhinoceros  lying  asleep  in 
a  thick  cover  to  the  south.  I  accordingly  accompanied  him  to 
the  spot,  and  commenced  stalking  in  upon  the  vast  muchocho. 
He  was  lying  asleep  beneath  a  shady  tree,  and  his  appearance 
reminded  me  of  an  enormous  hog,  which  in  shape  he  slightly 
resembles.  He  kept  constantly  flapping  his  ears,  which  they 
invariably  do  when  sleeping.  Before  I  could  reach  the  proper 
distance  to  fire,  several  "rhinoceros  birds,"  by  which  he  was 
attended,  warned  him  of  his  impending  danger  by  sticking 
their  bills  into  his  ear,  and  uttering  their  harsh,  grating  cry. 
Thus  aroused,  he  suddenly  sprang  to  his  feet  and  crashed 
away  through  the  jungle  at  a  rapid  trot,  and  I  saw  no  more 
of  him. 

These  rhinoceros  birds  are  constant  attendants  upon  the 
hippopotamus  and  the  four  varieties  of  rhinoceros,  their 
object  being  to  feed  upon  the  ticks  and  other  parisitic  insects 
that  swarm  upon  these  animals.  They  are  of  a  grayish  color, 
and  are  nearly  as  large  as  a  common  thrush  ;  their  voice  is 
very  similar  to  that  of  the  mistletoe  thrush.  Many  a  time 
have  these  ever-watchful  birds  disappointed  me  in  my  stalk, 
and  tempted  me  to  invoke  an  anathema  upon  their  devoted 
heads.  They  are  the  best  friends  the  rhinoceros  has,  and 
rarely  fail  to  awaken  him  even  in  his  soundest  nap.  "  Chu- 
kuroo  '  perfectly  understands  their  warning,  and,  springing 


BEHEMOTH  AND   THE   UXICORtf.  599 

to  his  feet,  he  generally  first  looks  about  him  in  every  direc 
tion,  after  which  he  invariably  makes  off.  I  have  often 
hunted  a  rhinoceros  on  horseback,  which  led  me  a  chase  of 
many  miles,  and  required  a  number  of  shots  before  he  fell, 
during  which  chase  several  of  these  birds  remained  by  the 
rhinoceros  to  the  last.  They  reminded  me  of  mariners  on 
the  deck  of  some  bark  sailing  on  the  ocean,  for  they  perched 
along  his  back  and  sides ;  and  as  each  of  my  bullets  told  on 
the  shoulder  of  the  rhinoceros,  they  ascended  about  six  feet 
into  the  air,  uttering  their  harsh  cry  of  alarm,  and  then 
resumed  their  position.  It  sometimes  happened  that  the 
lower  branches  of  trees,  under  which  the  rhinoceros  passed, 
swept  them  from  their  living  deck,  but  they  always  recovered 
their  former  station ;  they  also  adhere  to  the  rhinoceros 
during  the  night.  I  have  often  shot  these  animals  at  mid- 
night, when  drinking  at  the  fountains,  and  the  birds,  imagining 
they  were  asleep,  remained  with  them  till  morning,  and  on 
my  approaching,  before  taking  flight,  they  exerted  them 
selves  to  their  utmost  to  awaken  Chukuroo  from  his  deep 
sleep. 

This  account  of  the  bird  guardians  of  the  rhinoceros, 
though  apparently  extravagant,  is  not  without  many  corres- 
pondencies throughout  the  natural  world.  We  have  among 
us  a  familiar  instance  in  the  habits  of  the  cow-pen  bird. 
Audubon  says,  concerning  it : 

This  species  derives  its  name  from  the  circumstance  of  its 
frequenting  cow-pens.  In  this  respect  it  greatly  resembles 
the  European  starling.  Like  that  bird  it  follows  the  cattle 
in  the  fields,  often  alights  on  their  backs,  and  may  be  seen 
diligently  searching  for  worms  and  larvae  among  their  dung. 
In  spring,  the  cattle  in  many  parts  of  the  United  States  aro 
much  infested  with  intestinal  worms,  which  they  pass  in  great 
quantities,  and  on  these  the  cow-bird  frequently  makes  a 
delicious  repast. 

Of  the  abundance  of  the  rhinoceros  in  the  upper  part  of 


600  WILD   SCENES   AND  WILD   HUNTERS. 

the  valley  of  the  Limpopo,  Harris  gives  us  the  following 
graphic  sketch : 

The  country  now  literally  presented  the  appearance  of  a 
menagerie ;  the  host  of  rhinoceroses  in  particular  that  daily 
exhibited  themselves,  almost  exceeding  belief.  Whilst  the 
camp  was  being  formed,  an  ugly  head  might  be  seen  pro- 
truded from  every  bush,  and  the  possession  of  the  ground 
was  often  stoutly  disputed.  In  the  field,  these  animals  lost 
no  opportunity  of  making  themselves  obnoxious — frequently 
charging  at  my  elbow,  when  in  the  act  of  drawing  the  trigger 
at  some  object — and  pursuing  our  horses  with  indefatigable 
and  ludicrous  industry,  carrrying  their  noses  close  to  the 
ground,  moving  with  a  mincing  gait,  which  ill-beseemed  so 
ungainly  and  ponderous  a  quadruped,  and  uttering  the  while, 
a  sound  between  a  grunt  and  a  smothered  whistle.  In  remov- 
ing the  horn  with  an  axe,  the  brain  was  discovered  seated  in 
a  cavity  below  it,  at  the  very  extremity  of  the  snout — a  phe- 
nomenon in  the  idiosyncracy  of  this  animal,  which  may  in 
some  measure  account  for  its  want  of  intelligence  and  piggish 
obstinacy,  as  well  as  for  the  extraordinary  acuteness  of  smell 
with  which  it  is  endowed.  Irrascible  beyond  all  other  quad- 
rupeds, the  African  rhinoceros  appears  subject  even  to  unpro- 
voked paroxysms  of  reckless  fury ;  but  the  sphere  of  vision  is 
so  exceedingly  limited,  that  its  attacks,  though  sudden  and 
impetuous,  are  easily  eluded,  and  a  shot  behind  the  shoulder, 
discharged  from  the  distance  of  twenty  or  thirty  yards, 
generally  proves  fatal. 

On  our  way  from  the  wagons  to  a  hill,  not  half  a  mile 
distant,  we  counted  no  less  than  twenty-two  of  the  white 
species  of  rhinoceros,  and  were  compelled  in  self-defence  to 
slaughter  four.  On  another  occasion,  I  was  besieged  in  a 
bush  by  three  at  once,  and  had  no  little  difficulty  in  beating 
off  the  assailants. 

But  we  will  dismiss  this  fierce,  grotesque,  and  ridiculous 
animal,  with  the  following  striking  remark  from  Moffat,  which 


BEHEMOTH   AND    THE    UNICORN.  601 

exhibits  its  prodigious* strength  in  a  more  formidable  light 
than  any  thing  else  we  have  yet  heard  of  it.  He  says, 
speaking  of  the  black  rhinoceros : 

They  fear  no  enemy  but  man,  and  are  fearless  of  him  when 
wounded  and  pursued.  The  lion  flies  before  them  like  a  cat ; 
the  mohohu,  the  largest  species,  has  been  known  even  to  kill 
the  elephant,  by  thrusting  his  horn  into  his  ribs. 

But  Harris's  account  of  behemoth  is  too  graphic  to  be 
omitted  or  amended.  Here  it  is : 

Of  all  the  mammalia,  whose  portraits,  drawn  from  ill-stuffed 
specimens,  have  been  foisted  upon  the  world,  the  Behemoth 
has  perhaps  been  the  most  ludicrously  misrepresented.  I 
sought  in  vain  for  the  colossal  head — for  those  cavern-like 
jaws,  garnished  with  elephantine  tusks — or  those  ponderous 
feet  with  which  "  the  formidable  and  ferocious  quadruped"  is 
wont  "  to  trample  down  whole  fields  of  corn  during  a  single 
night."  Defenceless  and  inoffensive,  his  shapeless  carcass  is 
but  feebly  supported  upon  short  and  disproportioned  legs,  and 
his  belly  almost  trailing  upon  the  ground,  he  may  not  inaptly 
be  likened  to  an  overgrown  "  prize  pig."  The  color  is  pinkish 
brown,  clouded  and  freckled  with  a  darker  tint.  Of  many 
that  we  shot,  the  largest  measured  less  than  five  feet  at  the 
shoulder';  and  the  reality  falling  so  lamentably  short  of  the 
monstrous  conception  I  had  formed,  the  "river  horse"  or 
"sea  cow,"  was  the  first,  and  indeed  the  only  South  African 
quadruped  in  which  I  felt  disappointed. 

Our  next  movement  brought  us  to  the  source  of  the  Oori 
or  Limpopo — the  gareep  of  Moselekatse's  dominions.  Led 
by  many  fine  streams  from  the  Cashan  range,  this  enchanting 
river  springs  into  existence  as  if  by  magic ;  and  rolling  its 
deep  and  tranquil  waters  between  tiers  of  weeping  willows, 
through  a  passage  in  the  mountain  barrier,  takes  its  course 
to  the  northward.  Here  we  enjoyed  the  novel  diversion  of 
hippopotamus  shooting,  that  animal  abounding  in  the  Lim- 
popo ;  and  dividing  the  empire  with  its  amphibious  neighbor, 


602  WILD    SCENES   AND   WILD    HUNTERS. 

the  crocodile.  Throughout  the  night}  the  unwieldy  monsters 
might  be  heard  snorting  and  blowing  during  their  aquatic 
gambols,  and  we  riot  unfrequently  detected  them  in  the  act 
of  sallying  from  their  reed-grown  coverts  to  graze  by  light 
of  the  moon ;  never,  however,  venturing  to  any  distance  from 
the  river,  the  strong-hold  to  which  they  betake  themselves  on 
the  smallest  alarm.  Occasionally  during  the  day  they  were 
to  be  seen  basking  on  the  shore  amid  oose  and  mud,  but 
shots  were  more  constantly  to  be  had  at  their  uncouth  heads 
when  protruded  from  the  water  to  draw  breath,  and  if  killed, 
the  body  rose  to  the  surface.  Vulnerable  only  behind  the 
ear,  however,  or  in  the  eye,  which  is  placed  in  a  prominence 
so  as  to  resemble  the  garret  window  in  a  dutch  house,  they 
require  the  perfection  of  rifle  practice,  and  after  a  few  shots, 
become  exceedingly  shy,  exhibiting  the  snout  only,  and  as 
instantly  withdrawing  it.  The  flesh  is  delicious,  resembling 
pork  in  flavor,  and  abounding  in  fat,  which  in  the  colony  is 
deservedly  esteemed  the  greatest  of  delicacies.  The  hide  is 
upward  of  an  inch  and  a  half  in  thickness,  and  being  scarcely 
flexible  may  be  drawn  from  the  ribs  in  strips,  like  the  planks 
from  a  ship's  side.  Of  these  are  manufactured  a  superior 
description  of  jambok,  the  elastic  whip  already  noticed  as 
being  an  indispensable  piece  of  furniture  to  every  boor  pro- 
ceeding on  a  journey.  Our  followers  encumbered  the  wagons 
with  a  large  investment  of  them,  and  of  the  canine  teeth,  the 
ivory  of  which  is  extremely  profitable. 

It  is  truly  surprising  how  completely  a  little  cool  common 
sense  will  sometimes  strip  a  favorite  marvel  of  all  prodigious 
attributes.  The  thing  was  never  more  completely  done  than 
by  Harris  in  this  instance.  Being  a  clever  artist  himself, 
he  took  sketches  of  the  animal  on  the  spot ;  which  fully 
confirm  his  words,  if  they  were  not  equally  strengthened  by 
other  travellers  in  the  same  region.  But  Mr.  Gumming, 
however,  has  chosen  to  dissent  from  him  after  a  fashion  so 
peculiarly  his  own,  that  I  cannot,  among  other  reasons, 


BEHEMOTH   AND   THE   UNICORN.  603 

resist  giving  it  for  the  contrast  between  the  mental  habitudes 
of  the  two  men  it  affords.  While  Harris  is  simply  content 
with  giving  a  clear  and  effective  delineation  of  what  he  sees, 
Gumming  is  so  egregiously  beset  with  the  mania  for  the  pro- 
di-gi-ous  and  for  the  amplification  of  his  own  deeds,  that  it  is 
evident  if  he  had  chanced  to  have  seriously  encountered 
"rats"  during  his  "five  years  in  South  Africa,"  they  would 
have  been  nothing  short  of  mammoth  rats  —  or  colossal 
at  the  very  least.  He  had  come  upon  a  herd  of  fourteen 
hippopotami,  several  of  which  he  had  already  wounded  and 
lost,  having  made  his  first  shot  at  one  which  temporarily 
escaped.  He  says  of  it — 

The  one  I  had  first  shot  was  now  resting  with  half  her 
body  above  water  on  a  sand-bank  in  the  Limpopo.  From 
this  resting-place  I  started  her  with  one  shot  in  the  shoulder 
and  another  in  the  side  of  the  head ;  this  last  shot  set 
her  in  motion  once  more,  and  she  commenced  struggling 
in  the  water  in  the  most  extraordinary  manner,  disappearing 
for  a  few  seconds,  and  then  coming  up  like  a  great  whale, 
setting  the  'whole  river  in  an  uproar.  Presently  she  took 
away  down  the  stream,  holding  to  the  other  side ;  but, 
again  returning,  I  finished  her  with  a  shot  in  the  middle 
of  the  forehead.  This  proved  a  most  magnificent  specimen 
of  the  female  of  the  wondrous  hippopotamus,  an  animal  with 
which  I  was  extremely  surprised  and  delighted.  She  far 
surpassed  the  brightest  conceptions  I  had  formed  of  her. 
being  a  larger,  a  more  lively,  and  in  every  way  a  more 
interesting  animal  that  certain  writers  had  led  me  to  expect. 

The  "certain  writers"  alluded  to  so  significantly,  must 
include  our  friend  Harris,  who  so  clearly  differs  with  the 
enthusiastic  elephant-hunter  in  his  admiring  appreciation  of 
the  sprightly  graces  of  the  sea-cow.  It  is  always  a  pity 
when  doctors  disagree,  but  it  rather  seems  like  adding  insult 
to  injury  on  the  part  of  Gumming,  when  he  first  steals  from 
his  master  Harris,  and  then  snubs  him. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

BUFFALO  AND  ANTELOPES  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA. 

AFTER  treating  of  Behemoth,  I  suppose  buffalo  and 
antelopes  must  be  classed  as  small  game,  although  the 
Buffalo  is  represented  as  a  larger  animal  than  our  Bison, 
and  the  Eland,  which  is  classed  as  an  antelope,  "  not 
unfrequently  attains  the  height  of  nineteen  hands,  and 
weighing  two  thousand  pounds  !"  Tolerable  specimens  these 
of  small  game  for  any  country !  but  we  have  to  admit  that 
all  things  are  comparative,  and  where  the  giraffe  of  nineteen 
feet  is  the  standard  in  height  and  the  elephant  of  bulk,  the 
processes  in  dimuendo  must  necessarily  be  slow. 

This  South  African  is  undoubtedly  the  true  ^Buffalo,  and 
is  in  some  respects  individually  a  more  formidable  animal 
than  that  known  by  the  same  name  upon  our  plains.  Harris 
speaks  of  a  specimen  of  the  African  buffalo  slain  by  him, 
standing  sixteen  hands  and  a  half  at  the  shoulder ;  his 
ponderous  horns,  measuring  four  feet  from  tip  to  tip,  liko  a 
mass  of  rock,  overshadowing  his  small,  sinister,  gray  eyes, 
imparting  a  cunning  gloom  and  vindictive  expression  to  its 
head,  which  was  of  such  weight  that  one  powerful  man  could 
with  difficulty  lift  it  into  the  wagon ;  Gumming,  however, 
surpasses  him,  as  usual,  since  it  required  the  utmost  strength 
of  two  men  to  lift  the  head  of  a  similar  monster  he  slew ! 
He  says — 

I  ordered  the  Bechuanas  to  release  the  dogs ;  and  spurring 
Colesberg,  which  I  rode  for  the  first  time  since  the  affair 
with  the  lioness,  I  gave  chase.  The  buffaloes  crossed  the 

604 


AFRICAN   SMALL   GAME.  605 

valley  in  front  of  me,  and  made  for  a  succession  of  dense 
thickets  in  the  hills  to  the  northward.  As  they  crossed 
the  valley,  by  riding  hard  I  obtained  a  broadside  shot  at 
the  last  bull,  and  fired  both  barrels  into  him.  He,  however, 
continued  his  course,  but  I  presently  separated  him,  along 
with  two  other  bulls,  from  the  troop.  My  rifle  being  a 
two-grooved,  which  is  hard  to  load,  I  was  unable  to  do  so 
on  horseback,  and  followed  with  it  empty,  in  the  hope  of 
bringing  them  to  bay.  In  passing  through  a  grove  of 
thorny  trees  I  lost  sight  of  the  wounded  buffalo ;  he  had 
turned  short  and  doubled  back,  a  common  practice  with  them 
when  wounded.  After  following  the  other  two  at  a  hard 
gallop  for  about  two  miles,  I  was  riding  within  five  yards 
of  their  huge  broad  sterns.  They  exhaled  a  strong  bovine 
smell,  which  came  hot  in  my  face.  I  expected  every  minute 
that  they  would  come  to  bay,  and  give  me  time  to  load ;  but 
this  they  did  not  seem  disposed  to  do.  At  length,  finding  I 
had  the  speed  of  them,  I  increased  my  pace  ;  and  going 
ahead,  I  placed  myself  right  before  the  finest  bull,  thus 
expecting  to  force  him  to  stand  at  bay;  upon  which  he 
instantly  charged  me  with  a  low  roar,  very  similar  to  the 
voice  of  a  lion.  Colesberg  neatly  avoided  the  charge,  and 
the  bull  resumed  his  northward  course.  We  now  entered  on 
rocky  ground,  and  the  forest  became  more  dense  as  we  pro- 
ceeded. The  buffaloes  were  evidently  making  for  some  strong 
retreat.  I,  however,  managed  with  much  difficulty  to  hold 
them  in  view,  following,  as  best  I  could,  through  thorny 
thickets.  Isaa-c  rode  some  hundreds  yards  behind,  and  kept 
shouting  to  me  to  drop  the  pursuit,  or  I  should  be  killed.  At 
.last  the  buffaloes  suddenly  pulled  up,  and  stood  at  bay  in  a 
thicket  within  twenty  yards  of  me.  Springing  from  my 
horse,  I  hastily  loaded  my  two-grooved  rifle,  which  I  had 
scarcely  completed  when  Isaac  rode  up  and  inquired  what 
had  become  of  the  buffaloes,  little  dreaming  that  they  were 
standing  within  twenty  yards  of  him.  I  answered  by  pointing 


606  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

my  rifle  across  his  horse's  nose,  and  letting  fly  sharp  right 
and  left  at  the  two  buffaloes.  A  headlong  charge,  accom- 
panied by  a  muffled  roar,  was  the  result.  In  an  instant  I 
was  round  a  clump  of  tangled  thorn  trees ;  but  Isaac,  by  the 
violence  of  his  efforts  to  get  his  horse  in  motion,  lost  his 
balance,  and  at  the  same  instant,  his  girths  giving  way,  him- 
self, his  saddle,  and  big  Dutch  rifle,  all  came  to  the  ground 
together,  with  a  heavy  crash,  right  in  the  path  of  the  infu- 
riated buffaloes.  Two  of  the  dogs,  which  had  fortunately 
that  moment  joined  us,  met  them  in  their  charge,  and,  by 
diverting  their  attention,  probably  saved  Isaac  from  instant 
destruction.  The  buffaloes  now  took  up  another  position  in 
an  adjoining  thicket.  They  were  both  badly  wounded, 
blotches  and  pools  of  blood  marking  the  ground  where  they 
had  stood.  The  dogs  -rendered  me  assistance  by  taking  up 
their  attention,  and  in  a  few  minutes  these  two  noble  bulls 
breathed  their  last  beneath-  the  shade  of  a  mimosa  grove. 
Each  of  them,  in  dying,  repeatedly  uttered  a  very  striking, 
low,  deep  moan.  This  I  subsequently  ascertained  the  buffalo 
invariably  utters  when  in  the  act  of  expiring. 

On  going  up  to  them,  I  was  astonished  to  behold  their  size 
and  powerful  appearance.  Their  horns  reminded  me  of  the 
rugged  trunk  of  an  oak  tree.  Eacli  horn  was  upward  of  a 
foot  in  breadth  at  the  base,  and  together  they  effectually 
protected  the  skull  with  a  massive  and  impenetrable  shield. 
The  horns,  descending,  and  spreading  out  horizontally,  com- 
pletely overshadowed  the  animal's  eyes,  imparting  to  him  a 
look  the  most  ferocious  and  sinister  that  can  be  imagined. 

This  conveys  to  us  a  striking  picture  of  the  pOAver  and 
prowess  of  the  individual  animal,  but ;  although  these  gentle- 
men are,  with  perhaps  pardonable  exaggeration,  constantly 
using  the  term  "  vast,"  in  reference  to  the  herds  of  buffalo 
encountered  by  them  in  these  regions,  yet  I  am  compelled 
to  classify  this  use  of  a  word  so  significant  along  with  that 
they  uniformly  make  of  forest,  which  after  all  means  in 


AFRICAN   SMALL   GAME.  607 

reality,  according  to  their  own  showing,  nothing  more  than 
what  we  term  "  bushy  woodlands" — heing  groves  of  mimosa 
bushes  or  shrubs,  eighteen  or  nineteen  feet  in  height,  on  the 
tops  of  which  the  giraffe  is  represented  as  browsing.  It 
sounds  about  as  droll  to  a  backwoodsman's  ears  to  hear  these 
shrubs  called  forest  trees,  as  it  would  to  hear  a  herd  of  three 
thousand  buffaloes  called  "vast,"  when  armies  of  hundreds 
of  thousands,  or  even  millions,  are  by  no  means  considered 
either  extraordinary  or  unusual  on  our  plains.  Things  are 
comparative  in  more  ways  than  one ;  and  although  the 
African  buffalo  may  stand  higher  on  its  legs  than  our  bison, 
the  bulk  is  certainly  not  greater.  And  as  for  the  petty  herds 
in  which  it  moves,  expressing  anything  of  that  indescribable 
grandeur  with  which  the  American  animal  is  poured  along  in 
countless  shaggy  legions  over  trembling  plains,  the  very  idea 
of  comparison  is  like  that  of  a  mill-tail  to  Niagara ;  or  the 
dangers  of  shooting  cowardly-  lions,  helpless  sea-cows, 
peaceful  elephants  and  harmless  giraffes,  amidst  the  stupid, 
poorly  armed,  half-monkey  tribes  of  Africa,  accompanied 
by  huge  wains,  lumbered  with  the  luxuries  of  wines,  cigars, 
tea,  coffee  and  bread, — with  the  perils  to  be  faced  by  the 
wild  border  hunter  of.  America ! 

Mounted  on  his  mustang,  with  the  occasional  luxury  of 
a  pack  mule  and  coffee  and  sugar  for  the  first  week  out, 
the  Borderer  will  traverse  thousands  of  miles  alone,  armed 
with  rifle  and  knife,  through  desert  regions,  scourc-i  by 
the  fiercest,  most  cruel,  the  best  mounted  Nomads  in  the 
world,  whom  he  must  baffle  wile  with  wile  and  force  by 
force — will  meet,  single-handed,  the  terrible  Grisly  Bear 
that  knows  no  panic,  and  cannot  be  turned  aside  \\hen 
roused,  even  by  fire — or  cross,  unscathed,  the  thundering 
track  of  myriad  Bisons ;  and  think  himself  very  lucky,  if, 
at  the  end  of  a  year  or  two,  after  having  eaten  up  his 
saddle  skirts  and  made  soup  of  his  moccasins  some  half 
dozen  times — he  gets  back  to  a  trading  post  or  settlement, 


608  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

and  can  obtain  a  taste  once  more  of  a  "  corn  dodger,"  and 
a  little  "  bald-face"  or  "  old  rye  !" 

These  are  what  we  call  Hunters  in  America,  and  such 
are  the  comparative  conditions  of  suffering  and  danger  in 
the  life  here  and  in  South  Africa !  yet  Harris,  on  his  return 
from  his  South  African  Expedition,  with  great  simplicity, 
enumerates  it  among  his  other  hardships,  that  he  had  lived 
for  four  or  five  months  upon  nothing  but  the  monotonous 
round  of  tea,  coffee,  brandy,  bread  and  meat ! ! ! ! 

Our  Hunters  and  Hunter-Naturalists  do  not  withal  con- 
sider themselves  heroes  by  any  means — and  would  laugh  at 
you  for  the  supposition ;  such  things  are  too  much  matters  of 
course  with  them.  Yet  I  do  not  the  less  respect  the  manly 
and  dashing  achievements  of  these  British  South  African 
adventurers,  nor  hesitate  to  deny  to  them  in  their  fine  zeal 
for  "  specimens,"  the  true  and  hardy  spirit  of  the  Hunter- 
Naturalist.  I  would  insist,  nevertheless,  upon  having  it 
understood,  as  before  hinted,  that  some  things  are  compara- 
tive as  well  as  others.  With  one  more  short  picture  from 
Harris,  I  am  done  with  the  buffalo.  He  says — while  on  the 
Limpopo — 

Wild  buffaloes,  too,  might  often  be  seen  from  the  wagons. 
Riding  up  a  narrow  defile,  flanked  by  steep  banks,  I  one 
morning  found  myself  suddenly  confronted  with  the  van  of 
a  vast  troop  of  these  formidable  animals,  which  were  ascend- 
ing from  the  opposite  side — their  malevolent  gray  eyes 
scowling  beneath  a  threatening  brow.  Unable  to  turn, 
they  must  have  charged  over  me,  had  my  horse  not  contrived 
to  scramble  up  the  bank  ;  from  the  top  of  which  I  fired  both 
barrels  into  the  leader,  a  ponderous  bull,  whose  appearance 
stamped  him  father  of  the  herd.  Falling  on  his  knees,  the 
patriarch  was  instantly  trampled  under  foot  by  his  followers 
as  they  charged,  bellowing,  in  close  squadrons  down  the 
declivity,  with  the  fury  of  a  passing  whirlwind,  and  making 
the  woods  re-echo  to  the  clatter  of  their  hoofs. 


AFRICAN    SMALL    GAME.  609 

But  the  only  South.  African  animal  which  at  all  approxi- 
mates in  its  habits  the  prodigious  migratory  movements  of 
our  bison,   is   a  beautiful  -antelope   of   the   smaller   species, 
ailed  by  the  Dutch  Boers  the  Springbok.     Gumming  thus 
describes  his  first  sight  of  the  migrations  of  the  springbok — 

A  person  anxious  to  kill  many  springboks  might  have 
bagged  thirty  or  forty  that  morning.  I  never,  in  all  my 
subsequent  career,  fell  in  with  so  dense  a  herd  of  antelopes, 
nor  found  them  allow  me  to  ride  so  near  th.em.  Having 
inspanned,  we  proceeded  with  the  wagons  to  take  up  the 
fallen  game.  Vast  and  surprising  as  was  the  herd  of  spring- 
boks which  I  had  that  morning  witnessed,  it  was  infinitely 
supassed  by  what  I  beheld  on  the  march  from  my  vley  to 
old  Sweir's  camp ;  for,  on  our  clearing  the  low  range  of  hills 
through  which  the  springboks  had  been  pouring,  I  beheld 
the  boundless  plains,  and  even  the  hill  sides  which  stretched 
away  on  every  side  of  me,  thickly  covered,  not  with  "  herds," 
but  with  "  one  vast  herd"  of  springboks ;  far  as  the  eye  could 
strain  the  landscape  was  alive  with  them,  until  they  softened 
down  into  a  red  mass  of  living  creatures. 

To  endeavor  to  form  any  idea  of  the  amount  of  antelopes 
which  I  that  day  beheld,  were  vain ;  but  I  have,  nevertheless, 
no  hesitation  in  stating  that  some  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
springboks  were  that  morning  within  the  compass  of  my 
vision.  Old  Sweirs  acknowledged  that  it  was  a  very  fair 
"  trek-bokken,"  but  observed  that  it  was  not  many  when 
compared  with  what  he  had  seen.  "You,  this  morning," 
he  remarked,  "  behold  only  one  flat  covered  with  spring- 
boks, but  I  give  you  my  word  that  I  have  ridden  a  long 
day's  journey  over  a  succession  of  flats  covered  with  them,  as 
far  as  I  could  see,  as  thick  as  sheep  standing  in  a  fold." 

My  limits  press  upon  me  so,  that,  with  regret,  I  take 
leave  of  the  antelopes,  the  most  brilliant  and  interesting  of 
the  groups  of  African  game,  with  a  parting  glimpse  of  the 

39 


610  WILD   SCENES   AND   WILD   HUNTERS. 

magnificent  riches  of  the  great  valley  of  the  Limpopo,  in 
strange,  grotesque  and  lovely  forms. 

Here  may  be  seen  the  graceful  pallah,  shy  and  capricious, 
•with  knotted  and  excentrically  inflected  horns  of  extraordi- 
nary proportions;  the  rare  and  majestic  water-buck,  which 
is  never  found  at  a  distance  from  rivers,  in  which  he  delights 
to  plunge ;  the  sluggish  roan  antelope  of  the  elevated  downs 
and  ridges,  charging  viciously,  when  unable  to  continue  its 
flight,  with  its  heavy  build  and  size  equaling  that  of  a  large 
horse.  Here  too,  is  found  the  majestic  koo-doo,  with  it3 
brilliant  colors  of  lively  French  gray,  approaching  to  blue ; 
with  transverse  white  bands  over  the  back  and  loins ; 

The  grotesque  and  awkward  gnoo  wheels  and  prances  in 
every  direction,  his  shaggy  and  bearded  head  arched  between 
slender  and  muscular  legs ;  his  long,  white  tail  streaming  to 
the  wind ;  his  wild,  sinister  eyes  flashing  fire,  and  his  frequent 
snort,  like  the  roar  of  a  lion.  The  sassayby,  with  his  crescent 
horns,  drooping  hind  quarters  and  brilliant  colors,  purple 
and  violet,  and  the  hartebeest  of  bright  orange,  and  legs 
excentrically  marked ;  the  splendid  oryx,  with  its  sweeping 
tail,  reversed  mane,  shaggy  breast  and  straight,  slender 
horns ;  the  beautiful  zebra,  with  the  more  faintly  banded 
quagga,  and  the  riet-buck  of  the  sedge-grown  rivulets;  the 
prodigious  eland,  fat  always  like  a  prize  ox,  and  nearly  as 
large ;  and  most  glorious  of  all,  the  swift  and  rare  sable 
antelope,  with  its  scimetar-shaped  horns  and  snowy  breast, 
flying  along  the  mountain  ridges. 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  twenty  different  varieties  of  the 
antelope,  in  which  this  veritable  Paradise  of  the  Feme  Naturae 
abounds,  and  most  of  those  hero  enumerated  are  frequently 
in  view  in  one  landscape,  which  will  yet  be  diversified  by  the 
presence  of  the  larger  beasts  we  have  spoken  of  before. 
Yerily  is  the  life  of  the  Hunter-Naturalist  filled  with  "  Wild 
Scenes !" 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


REC'D 


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Jest  <em. 


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19T3 


CAUFORW! 


/ 


A  f\f\  "' '''''  'ill  ll  I 


